The 2026 FIFA World Cup is about more than just occupying stadiums. Some U.S. cities hosting games have even taken over MLS.
In the weeks leading up to the tournament, real estate agents in host cities like Boston and Miami are seeing listings disappear at an unusual rate, short-term rental inquiries from international calls surging, and the normal rhythm of the late spring and summer market shifting around the soccer schedule.
The disruption is uneven across cities, but in both regions, real estate agents say the World Cup’s imprint remains across the market.
Skip the spring market for the World Cup
Eric Rollo, vice president of Greater Boston at The Agency, said he started noticing this pattern in March. The Southend seller has since taken the house privately off the market because his family needed it for the World Cup.
“I told her she wouldn’t be going to the spring market,” Rollo told Inman. “She said, ‘Yeah, but we need it for the World Cup.’
Lolo tracks cancellations and withdrawals through ILS and said the volume has become impossible to ignore. Last week, his system went from generating one or two cancellation alerts per day to one or two per hour.
“This is unusual because normally our market ends around the Fourth of July before we see people start doing anything,” he said.
Geographical pressures extend beyond city boundaries. Rollo said home sales activity in Foxboro, home of the Boston-area World Cup site Gillette Stadium, will be virtually at a standstill during the tournament.
Boston will host seven games, including the quarterfinals. Haiti will play Scotland in the first leg on June 13th.
Rollo was referring to the Brazil-France friendly match on March 26, when Highway 1 in Foxboro was closed for more than half a day. Games are scheduled every other day, which would make screening near the stadium corridors nearly impossible.
“In Boston, we’re used to seeing all the college students go home and the houses empty around this time every year,” Rollo said. “But now it’s filling up again. Just moving around is going to make the real estate market very difficult over the next three to four weeks.”
Short-term rentals come with complex issues
Many homeowners in the Boston area are looking to take advantage of the surge in demand for short-term rentals.
According to April Airbnb data, Dorchester is Boston’s fastest-growing area for World Cup stays, with bookings during the tournament increasing 122 percent year-over-year compared to the same period last year in the first quarter of 2026.
But Rollo cautioned that short-term rentals in Boston can be complicated. Condominium owners in Downtown Boston near South Station, the starting point for commuter trains to Gillette Stadium, risk running afoul of their condo documents if they list their properties without checking.
Boston’s short-term rental ordinance limits stays to 28 days, limits listings to owner-occupied units, and requires hosts to register with the city to prove the property is their primary residence.
“The spirit of the law was for long-term investors,” Rollo said, referring to portfolios of investors who are buying up condominium complexes to use Airbnb full-time. This rule was not written with a one-off scenario in mind: “Someone comes in for a week for the World Cup.”
“It’s a roll of the dice on whether the fines and their cost-effectiveness work out,” Rollo said.
And for owners who rent out their properties and leave town, there’s a whole other set of risks. It’s a rowdy tournament renter who treats a stranger’s home like a venue. “You have to come back and look your neighbors in the eye,” Rollo said.
welcome to miami
Calculus works differently in Miami. The city is not emptied of people, it’s crowded with more people, and the atmosphere is full of excitement.
Anna M. Uribe, an agent with Miami Beach-based The Agency, said most inquiries about the World Cup are for short-term rentals and come from people in Brazil, Argentina and Colombia, countries with teams participating in the tournament and deep soccer cultures.
They are typically filtered through local agents who post in specialized group chats for short-term rental brokers.
AirDNA data shows that Miami, which will host seven games from June 15 to July 18, has seen demand for short-term night rentals jump 118% year-over-year, depending on the game day.
Of course, Miami isn’t used to hosting large-scale events. The Miami Grand Prix, an F1 car race, was held in May. Miami has hosted the Super Bowl 11 times, tied with New Orleans for the most in NFL history.
But Uribe said the World Cup will attract a wider audience.
“F1 tends to attract locals and people from places where F1 races are already held (Monaco, Mexico) because they are used to watching F1 in their home country,” Uribe said. “The Super Bowl is huge, but it’s national. The World Cup is truly international, so the audience is much larger and more diverse.”
While residents of other U.S. host cities may fear World Cup traffic congestion, most Miami residents aren’t trying to escape it, Uribe said. “Miami has a very diverse population and people have a real fan spirit,” Uribe said. “They want to be a part of it.”
Uribe’s brother and sister-in-law flew in from Dallas. His two best friends and their wives are flying in from Colombia to watch the Colombia vs. Portugal match. Uribe’s Brazilian friend, who lives in Miami, will fly to Kansas City to watch Argentina play.
“People go wherever the games are played,” Uribe said. “Maybe there’s a strong American expat mentality in Boston. It’s too loud. But here, people are excited. It’s going to be a big party.”
Real estate long tail effect
Beyond short-term rental increases, both agents pointed to a long-tail effect on real estate: the World Cup as a buyer pipeline.
In Miami, Uribe said many of the international visitors arriving for the tournament have never been to Miami or have only been there once or twice. Some people get interested in the market and leave, while others go further.
“They realize that and decide whether to rent something temporarily or buy something while they explore the market,” she says. “This is a real eye-opener for real estate.”
Rollo warned of a similar trend in Boston. The city has a history of overseas buyers purchasing homes for college students and turning those properties into investments. The World Cup could reignite that pattern, he said.
“People come from all over the world to visit Boston and say, ‘Maybe I’ll buy a second home here,'” Rollo said.
He also mentioned another potential benefit from the transportation investments Massachusetts makes during the convention. The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) has increased through train service for the World Cup, as well as New England Patriots football games.
“I think this is almost a proof of concept for increasing the number of trains going to and from Gillette Stadium on smaller event days,” Rollo said. “We have a T station in Mansfield, so we could extend to the Xfinity Center in Mansfield for concerts. This is a test case: Can we alleviate car traffic by increasing commuter rail service?”
The loss of List in Boston due to the World Cup will likely be temporary. Rollo expects some of the withdrawn listings to return after the Fourth of July, or continue until mid-November with a concentration around Labor Day.
Timing compression increases further. He’s already said this year’s Memorial Day felt like the Fourth of July. The World Cup accelerated the calendar.
“When the fireworks go off, the real estate market dies,” Rollo said. “That was already happening early on this year and the World Cup had a lot to do with it.”
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