Although precise data on the rental housing market in Mexico City is unavailable, the average rent has increased by 35% in the last five years, according to information from the Federal Mortgage Society. This has exacerbated the displacement of people to the city’s outskirts, estimated at 20,000 families each year.
The constitutional reform initiative on fair, reasonable, and affordable rents, which the Head of Government, Clara Brugada, sent to the Mexico City Congress, indicates that in January 2020 the average rent in Mexico City was 14,500 pesos, while by January 2025 it was projected to reach nearly 20,000 pesos.
“We are facing a vicious cycle. Rising rents lead to displacement and vacancy of homes, which, in turn, encourages them to integrate into new service models (such as short-term rentals), increasing their market value, which in turn generates more displacement of neighbors,” reads the initiative’s statement of purpose.
An analysis by the International Coalition for Habitat reveals that at the end of 2024, 26,326 spaces were listed on Airbnb in Mexico City.
The short-term rental phenomenon in Mexico City is concentrated mainly in the boroughs of Cuauhtémoc, Miguel Hidalgo, Benito Juárez, and Coyoacán, which account for 84.62% of the total number of listings in the city.
“This problem particularly affects young people and priority groups who are forced to abandon their legitimate aspirations of owning their own homes, of accessing fair and dignified rental housing, of making their lives in the city where they were born (…) the disproportionate increase in land value cannot continue, as it seriously compromises the city’s sustainability,” the initiative states.
It is estimated that 2 million people live in rented housing in Mexico City; that is, one in four residents. Furthermore, the rental housing phenomenon is on the rise: between 2010 and 2020, the number of renters increased by 135,000. In the city center, more than 40 percent of the population pays rent.
Mexico City authorities acknowledge that the demand for housing continues to increase not only due to gentrification, but also because of “other openly irregular practices,” such as violations of land use regulations and the misuse of residential properties for commercial purposes, such as warehouses or offices.
“It is undeniable that this problem has intensified in recent years, partly due to the dynamism of the market itself and social phenomena, such as the arrival of digital nomad populations or economic processes, such as the relocation of production processes or nearshoring,” the document adds.
Data updated to 2024 indicates that the Cuajimalpa borough has the highest rents, with the average apartment rental price reaching 22,000 pesos. In Álvaro Obregón, Benito Juárez, and Miguel Hidalgo, the average price is 20,000 pesos.
Meanwhile, in Tláhuac the average is 6,000 pesos, and in Venustiano Carranza, Azcapotzalco, Gustavo A. Madero, Iztacalco, and Iztapalapa it hovers around 10,000 pesos.
“These figures are alarming. Not only because of the vast disparity in land value between boroughs like Tláhuac and Miguel Hidalgo, for example, but fundamentally because of the high cost of rent in the city center,” emphasizes the initiative signed by Brugada.
According to information shared by the Mexico City government itself, 40% of the city’s poorest households rent; that is, more than double the percentage observed among the wealthiest sectors.
Although it was expected that Clara Brugada would present the initiative for Mexico City to have a Law of Fair, Reasonable, and Affordable Rents, as she herself had pledged, what she ultimately announced were proposals for constitutional changes on the matter.
Source: es-us.noticias.yahoo
