The government is preparing a new wave of restrictions for creating new Airbnb properties in at least five more tourist areas of the country facing acute housing problems, following the freeze on issuing new licenses in Athens. The capital’s center already records over 60,000 properties under short-term rental arrangements. Government officials have sounded the alarm due to the frenzied rise in housing and rental prices, at a time when properties available nationwide exclusively for short-term rentals exceeded 245,944 this year, offering approximately 1.1 million beds. The prevailing recommendation is to extend the bans to Thessaloniki, Halkidiki, Santorini, Paros and Chania. In these areas, which buzz with tourism during summer, the problem of finding housing for long-term rental has reached critical levels and continues during winter months. As a result, permanent residents as well as workers such as doctors, teachers, professors, military personnel and engineers face major difficulties or are forced to abandon their homes at the start of the tourist season.
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