Contract, property, and the market: regulating short-term rentals in comparative perspective

This article investigates the contractual and proprietary implications of short-term rental (STR) regulation in European cities. Focusing on Berlin, London, Milan, and Paris, it compares regulatory strategies ranging from targeted administrative restrictions to structural redefinitions of housing access. Drawing on private law theory and law-and-economics approaches, the article shows how STR regulation reconfigures the classical balance between contractual autonomy and property rights in light of urban policy goals. Empirical analysis complements the normative argument through a Hedonic Pricing Model estimated across the four cities. Using log-linear regressions with neighbourhood fixed effects and clustered standard errors on Inside Airbnb data, the model reveals robust and significant spatial price differentials. Entire flats and hotel-type listings command substantial premiums, while private and shared rooms are structurally penalized. These effects persist across specifications and point to a regressive structure in platform-mediated rental markets. By combining doctrinal and quantitative methods, the article frames STR regulation as a site of distributive recalibration within private law. Legal categories are not neutral: they structure access to the city. As STRs reshape property use, contract enforcement, and urban residence, the paper argues for a renewed legal framework attentive to spatial inequality, enforcement asymmetries, and platform governance.226