The 2026 FIFA World Cup held on June 11, 2026 with the first match at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City, the game pitted the home side against South Africa....

The 2026 FIFA World Cup saw the streets around Akron Stadium hit with the impact of the tournament.

What should be a moment of global celebration for many residents, become a scramble for a home, landlords moved from long-term tenants to lucrative short-term rentals aimed at visiting fans.

Footage from Thursday February 12, 2026 showed residential buildings near Akron Stadium, where residents, even long-term renters, felt the strain.

"They increased it [the rent] twice, I was paying 18,800 pesos (1,091.62 USD). I asked the landlady if she would allow me to renew the contract... There was a small disagreement, and suddenly, out of nowhere, they told me they were not going to renew it," said resident Geronimo Gonzalez.

Analysis from AirDNA, a leading platform specialised in the short-term vacation rental market, indicated that demand for temporary housing in Mexican host cities spiked between 750 percent and 3,000 percent during major sporting events.

This demand was further bolstered by the influx of high-spending foreign tenants.

"The upcoming World Cup is going to be a boom for this kind of thing. The digital nomads who come to Mexico come to live here, and they pay rent of around 24,000 or 25,000 pesos a month (1,392 and 1,450 USD)," said academic and economics specialist Rafael Salvador Espinoza.

Espinoza noted that prices around Akron Stadium are expected to rise 45 percent in the lead up to the World Cup, as property owners move to maximise profits during the window. However, he says, this could be shortsighted.

“How many matches are we going to have? Four. Over what period? One month. What is worth more? Having it rented for one month at extreme speculation or for 12 months at a normal rent. Let's do the maths. It does not make sense.”