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SUMMARY
Yes, Airbnb is still worth it in Mexico City for the right property, but it is no longer an obvious high-yield strategy for a passive buyer.
Tourist demand is not the weak point. Mexico City still combines strong occupancy, year-round demand and the ability to charge sharply higher rates during major events.
The real constraint is that market demand and legal operating capacity no longer line up neatly. AirDNA can show occupancy around 64%, while the standard city regime becomes difficult once a property needs materially more than 182 occupied nights in a year.
Recent revenue growth also looks better than a normal year. World Cup demand proved that Mexico City has exceptional event pricing power, but those weeks should not be used to justify an ordinary purchase price.
Competition is especially heavy in the exact product many investors want to buy. One-bedroom entire-home listings dominate supply, so a generic apartment in Roma, Condesa or Polanco is easy for guests to replace.
Prime neighborhoods still attract guests, but their popularity is already reflected in acquisition prices. A strong location helps revenue and can still hurt yield if the buyer pays too much for it.
The long-term rental market has become a much stronger alternative. Once conventional rents reach MXN30,000 to MXN35,000 a month, Airbnb needs a meaningful net premium rather than a small gross-revenue advantage.
Management and platform fees can erase that premium quickly. A fully outsourced property can lose 30% or more of gross booking revenue before utilities, repairs, supplies, taxes and downtime are counted.
The best Airbnb purchase is therefore a flexible apartment rather than a purpose-built tourist unit: something guests will pay extra for, but that a normal tenant would also want on a one-year lease.
We would still buy when the acquisition price is sensible, the building situation is clear, the property has real pricing power and the numbers work under legally realistic occupancy. If the deal needs 250 tourist nights, event pricing and full outsourcing to make sense, we would pass.
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Is Airbnb in Mexico City still worth buying for?
Airbnb in Mexico City can still be worth buying for today, but we would only do it when the property works under conservative assumptions and still makes sense as a normal rental.
That distinction has become much more important lately. Mexico City still has excellent tourism demand, but owners now have to deal with a real registration system, a 50% annual-occupancy rule under the standard short-term-rental regime, expensive apartments in the neighborhoods tourists want most, and a long-term rental market that already pays owners fairly well.
The latest AirDNA completed-month data still looks strong on the surface. Mexico City has about 26,500 active short-term rentals, 64% average occupancy, an $89 average daily rate and roughly $19,500 in trailing annual revenue per active listing. RevPAR, which combines price and occupancy, is up 18.7% year over year.
Those numbers tell us tourists still want short-term rentals in Mexico City. They do not tell us that buying an average apartment and putting it on Airbnb produces an attractive return.
The investment question now comes down to the gap between gross Airbnb revenue and what the owner actually keeps.
| What we need to test | Current situation | Effect on an Airbnb buyer | Our read |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tourist demand | Strong | Supports occupancy and pricing | Positive |
| Short-term-rental regulation | Much tighter | Restricts the easy high-occupancy model | Negative |
| Property prices | High in prime areas | Pushes yields down | Negative |
| Long-term rents | Strong | Creates a credible Airbnb alternative | Negative for Airbnb |
| Competition | About 26,500 active STRs | Generic apartments are easy to replace | Negative |
| Major-event demand | Recently exceptional | Boosted recent revenue | Temporary positive |
Is Airbnb demand in Mexico City still strong today?
Mexico City Airbnb demand is still strong today, with no convincing sign that travelers are abandoning short-term rentals.
AirDNA currently puts average occupancy at 64% across roughly 26,500 active short-term rentals. Its seasonality score is 98 out of 100, which tells us something useful beyond the headline occupancy rate: demand is spread unusually well through the year.
The wider tourism market supports that picture. Mexico City's tourism authority reported 15.6 million tourists during 2025, 62.3 million visitors overall and about MXN159 billion in tourism spending. Hotels averaged 67.9% occupancy.
Airbnb-style accommodation is therefore operating in the same broad occupancy range as a large established hotel market, rather than surviving on a few peak weekends.
The demand side is still one of the easier parts of the investment case. Mexico City remains a strong year-round urban tourism market.
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Did the World Cup make Mexico City Airbnb revenue look better than normal?
Yes. The World Cup pushed Mexico City Airbnb revenue unusually high, so we would not use the latest revenue growth figure as a normal forward assumption.
AirDNA currently shows average annual revenue per active listing up 103.1% year over year. Taken alone, that sounds extraordinary.
The underlying numbers are much less dramatic. Average daily rates rose only 3.2%, while RevPAR increased 18.7%. Those figures suggest the apparent doubling in annual revenue has been influenced by listing mix, availability and an exceptional period rather than ordinary nightly prices suddenly doubling.
The World Cup gives us another clue. El Economista reported from AirDNA data that short-term rentals across Mexico generated about $78.8 million during the tournament, $30.6 million more than during the comparable period a year earlier. The publication found that higher prices drove much of the increase rather than the huge wave of extra guests some operators had expected.
Mexico City also reached around 80% hotel occupancy during part of the tournament, according to preliminary figures released by city officials.
We would keep the World Cup in the model as proof that Mexico City has excellent event pricing power. Using those weeks to justify an ordinary year's purchase price would be far too aggressive.
| Recent figure | What happened | What we can reasonably conclude |
|---|---|---|
| AirDNA annual revenue | $19.5K per active listing | Current gross revenue is healthy |
| Revenue growth | +103.1% YoY | Recent comparisons are unusually distorted |
| ADR growth | +3.2% YoY | Ordinary nightly pricing did not double |
| RevPAR growth | +18.7% YoY | The underlying improvement is meaningful but much smaller |
| Mexico World Cup STR revenue | $78.8M | Major events can create large upside |
| Extra World Cup STR revenue | $30.6M YoY | A large part of the recent surge was event-related |
Are there already too many Airbnbs in Mexico City?
Mexico City already has enough Airbnbs that a generic apartment in Roma, Condesa or Polanco has very little natural advantage.
AirDNA currently tracks 26,476 active short-term rentals across Airbnb, Vrbo and Booking.com. About 71.5% are entire homes, and one-bedroom properties alone represent 61.6% of active supply.
That last number is particularly revealing. Almost two-thirds of the market sits in the format many new investors instinctively want to buy.
A pleasant one-bedroom with a sofa, neutral furniture and a good location therefore enters a huge pool of similar apartments. A central address alone does not separate the property from the market anymore.
AirDNA currently reports active supply down 25.1% year over year. That could eventually help surviving hosts if demand stays strong, although we would be careful with the exact decline because different short-term-rental databases use different definitions of an active listing.
The practical conclusion is simpler: competition remains enormous even after the reported drop. We would want a property with a real reason for guests to choose it: a terrace, quiet bedroom, unusual design, air conditioning, elevator, exceptional view, proper workspace or a layout that works better than the dozens of nearby alternatives.
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What does Mexico City's 50% Airbnb rule actually mean for an owner?
Mexico City's 50% rule can make the usual 65% or 70% Airbnb occupancy target incompatible with the standard short-term-rental registration model.
The law says that a property cannot renew its registration under the estancia turística eventual regime after occupying more than 50% of the nights in the year. A property that needs longer operating periods falls under the rules for commercial establishments.
Half of a 365-day year is roughly 182 nights.
That creates a clear problem when we compare the law with market performance. AirDNA currently reports 64% average occupancy across available nights in Mexico City. A host running an apartment all year at that rate could generate around 234 booked nights.
We should be precise here because occupancy statistics and the legal threshold are not calculated in exactly the same way. AirDNA occupancy measures booked nights as a percentage of nights actually made available. The Mexico City rule looks at occupied nights across the year.
Still, an investor whose financial model depends on 230 to 260 occupied nights should resolve the legal operating structure before buying the property.
| Annual occupied nights | Share of calendar | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| 140 nights | 38% | Comfortably below the threshold |
| 170 nights | 47% | Still below it |
| 182 nights | About 50% | Very little room left |
| 220 nights | 60% | Above the standard renewal limit |
| 250 nights | 68% | Requires a different operating assumption |
Is Mexico City actually enforcing its new Airbnb rules now?
Yes. Mexico City's Airbnb rules are operational now because hosts and platforms have an official digital registration system rather than a law sitting on paper.
The city launched its Sistema de Registro Digital de Anfitriones y Plataformas de Alojamiento Temporal in 2026. Hosts and platforms were initially given 30 days to complete registration.
The system asks hosts to document ownership or lawful possession, tax information and property details. The legal framework also requires hosts to notify the condominium assembly when the unit sits inside a condominium and provide contact details for complaints.
Platforms have their own role. Mexico City requires them to identify registered properties and report occupied nights.
That reporting mechanism gives authorities a practical way to compare registered properties with actual platform activity under the 50% rule.
The government has also said that people operating more than three short-term-rental properties must use the commercial-establishment framework. For someone building a portfolio, the rules become more demanding well before reaching institutional scale.
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Could a court still kill Mexico City's 50% Airbnb rule?
We would not buy a Mexico City Airbnb today on the assumption that courts will remove the 50% rule.
The legal fight has produced conflicting decisions at different stages, but the latest broader federal precedent is unfavorable to owners seeking to suspend the restriction.
A Regional Plenary court published jurisprudence stating that granting a definitive injunction against the effects of Article 61 Sexies' 50% rule would harm the public interest and conflict with public-order provisions.
That carries more weight than an isolated favorable ruling because jurisprudence gives lower courts a stronger rule to follow in comparable cases.
Another federal precedent published in 2026 also classified Mexico City's platform-hosting provisions as self-executing for amparo purposes. In practical terms, the obligations arise from the law itself rather than waiting for a later enforcement act against each host.
Nobody can say the legal framework will never change. But there is enough evidence today to treat the current rule as part of the base case rather than something likely to vanish.
Are Roma Norte and Condesa still the obvious places to buy an Airbnb?
Roma Norte and Condesa are still excellent places to attract Airbnb guests, but we would no longer call either neighborhood an obvious place to buy.
The problem comes from the relationship between revenue and acquisition price.
Travelers keep paying a premium for these neighborhoods because they can walk to restaurants, cafés, nightlife, parks and many of the places international visitors already know before arriving in Mexico City. That makes occupancy easier to achieve.
Investors know this too. The popularity has been capitalized into property values, while thousands of short-term rentals compete for the same visitors.
Condesa also shows how strong the alternative rental market has become. Recent Inmuebles24 listings include many ordinary two-bedroom units around MXN35,000 to MXN38,000 per month, while a current 60 m² furnished one-bedroom close to the Condesa/Roma area was marketed around MXN38,000 per month.
Those are asking prices rather than completed leases, so we would never plug one listing directly into an investment model. They still show why a central Mexico City owner no longer has to use Airbnb to collect a high monthly rent.
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Does Airbnb still make more money than a normal rental in Mexico City?
Airbnb can still make more money than a normal Mexico City rental, but the premium can disappear surprisingly fast after fees, restricted nights and operating costs.
This is probably the most important comparison in the article.
Imagine an apartment that can earn MXN2,500 per occupied Airbnb night. At 180 occupied nights, gross accommodation revenue reaches MXN450,000.
A long-term tenant paying MXN30,000 a month generates MXN360,000 a year.
Airbnb appears to lead by MXN90,000, or 25%.
But Airbnb still has to absorb platform fees, utilities, internet, cleaning gaps, consumables, maintenance, additional wear and possibly professional management. A traditional landlord usually passes several of those recurring expenses to the tenant.
If a manager takes 20% of Airbnb revenue, MXN90,000 disappears immediately in our example. Before we even count the other costs, the two strategies have converged.
That is why the gross Airbnb-versus-rent comparison can be so misleading today.
| Simple annual example | Airbnb | Long-term rental |
|---|---|---|
| Occupied nights / months | 180 nights | 12 months |
| Average price | MXN2,500/night | MXN30,000/month |
| Gross revenue | MXN450,000 | MXN360,000 |
| 20% management cost | -MXN90,000 | Usually not applicable |
| Revenue after management | MXN360,000 | MXN360,000 |
| Utilities and higher turnover costs | Owner usually pays | Often lower for owner |
| Operating effort | High | Low |
How much does Airbnb itself take from Mexico City hosts?
Airbnb can currently take either 4% or 16% from a Mexico host depending on the host's fee structure, and that difference is large enough to change a property's return.
Airbnb says most Mexican hosts still using its split-fee model pay a 4% host service fee.
The single-fee model works very differently. Airbnb deducts the whole fee from the host payout, and Mexican listings under that structure pay 16%.
Airbnb has recently been moving more hosts toward the single-fee structure. The company explicitly states that the structure is mandatory for several categories, including hosts using property-management software and traditional hospitality listings.
Take MXN500,000 of annual booking revenue. A 4% host fee costs about MXN20,000. A 16% host fee costs MXN80,000.
That MXN60,000 gap can equal several months of a property's long-term rent.
We would therefore check the actual Airbnb fee structure before accepting any broker's projected net yield. Using a generic 3% platform-fee assumption for Mexico can materially overstate cash flow.
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Is professional Airbnb management still worth paying for in Mexico City?
Professional Airbnb management can make sense operationally in Mexico City, but a fully managed average apartment is much harder to justify financially.
Local property managers commonly advertise commissions around 15% to 20%, depending on what the service includes. Cleaning may be charged separately.
Combine a 20% manager with Airbnb's 16% single fee and the gross revenue starts shrinking very quickly.
If an apartment generates MXN500,000 before those charges, a simple 20% management fee removes MXN100,000. A 16% Airbnb fee represents another MXN80,000 if calculated against the same booking base.
The owner would be down to roughly MXN320,000 before utilities, supplies, repairs, insurance, taxes and periods when the apartment earns nothing.
The exact calculation varies because managers do not all charge against the same revenue base, and Airbnb fees can depend on the host setup. But the order of magnitude is enough to change how we look at the investment.
A professionally managed Airbnb therefore needs a meaningful gross-revenue advantage over a normal lease. A small premium is not enough.
Does self-managing a Mexico City Airbnb change the answer?
Yes. Self-management can still make a good Mexico City Airbnb considerably more attractive because avoiding a 15% to 20% management commission leaves a lot more money with the owner.
Take the same MXN500,000 revenue example. Avoiding a 20% manager saves MXN100,000 a year before tax.
That can easily determine whether Airbnb beats a long-term tenant.
The catch is that we should value the owner's work properly. Someone has to handle guest questions, pricing, check-in problems, cleaners, damaged items, maintenance, reviews and last-minute changes.
An owner living nearby who already understands hospitality may happily do that work. An overseas investor who wants a passive property will usually have to pay someone else.
So there are really two Airbnb businesses hiding under the same revenue figures. The active local operator can still create a good return through execution. The passive investor buying the same apartment may end up with a much less impressive yield.
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What type of Mexico City apartment actually works best for Airbnb now?
The best Mexico City Airbnb today is a property that tourists want but long-term tenants would also happily rent if the short-term strategy stops working.
One-bedroom apartments still dominate the market, representing 61.6% of AirDNA's current active supply. Their popularity makes sense: they fit couples, solo travelers and business visitors while keeping the purchase price below a large family apartment.
Their popularity also makes them easy to replace.
We would therefore care less about simply buying the "right Airbnb format" and more about buying a flexible apartment with features that remain valuable under either strategy.
A quiet bedroom matters to a three-night guest and a one-year tenant. So do natural light, air conditioning, a balcony, elevator access, security, a functional kitchen and a sensible layout.
The building deserves equal attention. Mexico City's host-registration rules require condominium hosts to notify the condominium assembly, while individual buildings can create their own practical headaches around guest access and short stays.
For us, a slightly less fashionable property in an Airbnb-friendly building can make more sense than a beautiful Roma apartment surrounded by hostile neighbors and uncertain building rules.
| Property characteristic | Airbnb value | Long-term rental value | Why we like it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quiet bedroom | High | High | Works for both strategies |
| Balcony or terrace | High | High | Genuine differentiation |
| Air conditioning | High | Medium/high | Valuable to international guests |
| Elevator | High | High | Widens the tenant and guest pool |
| Proper workspace | High | High | Useful for longer stays |
| Good building management | Very high | High | Reduces operational risk |
| Purely decorative renovation | Medium | Medium | Easy for competitors to copy |
Are rising Mexico City rents making Airbnb less attractive?
Yes. Rising conventional rents are quietly making the Airbnb trade less attractive because owners can already earn substantial income with far less work.
Recent Inmuebles24 data shows how quickly several central neighborhoods have moved.
Hipódromo's average advertised rent increased from about MXN23,700 to MXN28,300 over two years in one Inmuebles24 comparison. Hipódromo Condesa moved from roughly MXN28,300 to more than MXN38,000, while Escandón increased from about MXN16,750 to MXN23,400.
Individual listings currently reinforce that broad picture. Many two-bedroom apartments around Hipódromo Condesa are being advertised in the mid-MXN30,000s per month.
Those figures do not mean every landlord actually signs a tenant at the advertised price. Asking rents tend to run above final negotiated rents.
The direction is still clear enough. Airbnb now has to compete with a conventional rental market where a decent central apartment can already generate hundreds of thousands of pesos a year without nightly turnovers or platform dependence.
A few years ago, Airbnb only needed to beat a mediocre long-term rent. These days, the hurdle is considerably higher.
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Could Mexico City tighten Airbnb rules again?
Yes. We think further Mexico City Airbnb restrictions are a real risk because recent policy has consistently moved toward tighter oversight rather than deregulation.
We can trace the direction through several concrete steps.
Mexico City created a formal host registry, capped the standard short-term-rental regime at 50% annual occupancy, required platforms to report booked nights and moved larger hosts into the commercial-establishment framework.
The current city government has also tied short-term-rental regulation directly to housing availability, neighborhood pressure and gentrification.
That does not mean every future proposal will become law. Mexico City still benefits heavily from tourism, and short-term rentals provide accommodation capacity that hotels alone may struggle to replace during major events.
But an investor today should assume regulation remains politically active.
The safest property is therefore one we would still be comfortable owning if short-term rules become stricter.
What kind of Mexico City Airbnb would we still buy today?
We would still buy a Mexico City Airbnb today when the deal has enough advantage that it does not need perfect occupancy, perfect pricing and loose regulation all at once.
The easiest advantage to understand is buying well. An apartment purchased below comparable market value has room for operational mistakes that a premium-priced property does not.
The second is real pricing power. A terrace, unusually good design, several genuine bedrooms or a highly desirable micro-location can support a higher nightly rate without forcing the owner to chase extreme occupancy.
Low operating costs create another edge. Owners who can manage the property themselves, already have cleaners and maintenance contacts, or avoid an expensive management company keep far more of the gross revenue.
Legal clarity matters just as much. We would want to know the intended registration route, condominium situation and fallback use before putting money down.
Most importantly, the apartment should survive a change of strategy.
If a normal tenant would happily rent the property at a decent yield, Airbnb becomes upside. If the deal only works with 250 tourist nights and aggressive nightly prices, we would walk away.
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What would make us reject a Mexico City Airbnb immediately?
We would reject a Mexico City Airbnb when the seller's numbers require unusually high occupancy, event-level pricing or a regulatory assumption nobody can clearly explain.
The first warning sign is a broker presenting gross Airbnb revenue as though it were yield. Revenue tells us almost nothing until we compare it with the purchase price and subtract the real operating costs.
We would also be wary of models using 65% to 75% annual occupancy without addressing the 50% standard-regime rule. The latest AirDNA occupancy figures make those assumptions look normal from a demand perspective, but the legal structure still has to support them.
Another red flag is a fully outsourced property that only beats long-term rent by 10% or 15% before expenses. Management and Airbnb fees can consume that advantage immediately.
Finally, we would avoid a unit with a weak long-term fallback. Airbnb regulation, travel patterns and platform economics can all change over a ten-year ownership period.
The deal should work under an ordinary year rather than requiring everything to go right.
| Investment test | We like it | We get cautious | We walk away |
|---|---|---|---|
| Purchase price | Below good comparables | Fair market price | Premium justified by Airbnb forecasts |
| Revenue assumption | Normal-year pricing | Strong execution required | Event pricing required |
| Occupancy assumption | Legally realistic | Close to limits | Depends on 65%–75% full-year operation |
| Management cost | Low/self-managed | Efficient manager | Expensive full outsourcing |
| Building situation | Clear | Some unresolved issues | Hostile or restrictive |
| Long-term fallback | Strong | Acceptable | Weak |
| Profitability | Works under stress | Works only in base case | Works only in best case |
So, is Airbnb still worth it in Mexico City?
Yes, but Airbnb in Mexico City is currently worth it for a fairly narrow type of buyer rather than for anyone who simply wants a higher-yield apartment.
Tourist demand remains excellent. AirDNA still shows 64% occupancy, strong year-round seasonality and roughly 26,500 active listings. Mexico City itself continues to receive millions of tourists, while the World Cup recently proved how much pricing power the market can have during major events.
The economics are where we become much more selective.
The standard short-term-rental regime now comes with a 50% annual-occupancy constraint. Mexico City's host registry is live, platforms are expected to report occupied nights, and the latest federal jurisprudence makes it harder to assume courts will simply neutralize the rule.
At the same time, Airbnb's fee can reach 16% for Mexican hosts under the single-fee structure. Add a 15% to 20% manager and a large share of gross revenue can disappear before utilities, repairs and taxes.
Conventional rents have also become strong enough to change the comparison. An apartment earning MXN30,000 or MXN35,000 every month from one tenant does not need spectacular Airbnb revenue to become the better investment.
We would still buy when we have a clear edge: a good acquisition price, a property guests will pay extra for, low operating costs, a legal structure we understand and a strong long-term rental fallback.
For a passive investor buying an average one-bedroom in Roma or Condesa at a premium price and handing everything to a manager, we would probably choose the conventional rental instead.
Airbnb in Mexico City can still make good money. These days, the property has to be good enough that we would want to own it even without Airbnb.
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OUR METHODOLOGY
This analysis tests whether buying a Mexico City Airbnb still makes sense under current market and regulatory conditions. We compare tourism demand, short-term-rental supply, achievable revenue, legal operating limits, platform and management costs, conventional rents, property characteristics and the ability to fall back on a normal lease.
We separate demand from investment returns. Strong occupancy and tourism tell us guests are still there, but they do not prove that a buyer earns an attractive yield after acquisition cost, restricted operating nights, platform charges, management, utilities, repairs and downtime.
We also separate normal conditions from event-driven ones. Recent World Cup performance is treated as evidence of Mexico City's pricing power during exceptional demand, not as a normal annual revenue assumption.
The 50% rule is treated as part of the base case. We use the current Mexico City tourism law, the operating registration system and the latest federal jurisprudence rather than assuming the restriction will disappear or remain unenforced.
Conventional rents are used as the main alternative to Airbnb because that is the real opportunity cost for an owner. Asking-market evidence is treated as directional rather than as completed-lease data, and Airbnb market averages are not treated as guaranteed performance for an individual unit.
Our investment judgment is therefore based on whether the property still works under conservative assumptions and retains a strong long-term-rental fallback. A deal that only works with event pricing, very high occupied-night counts or expensive full outsourcing is treated much more cautiously.
Key sources used for this analysis include: AirDNA's Mexico City market overview, AirDNA's revenue data, AirDNA's supply data, Mexico City's Secretaría de Turismo on 2025 tourism results, the official Estancia Turística Eventual registration system, Mexico City Government on the launch of the digital host and platform registry, the Congress of Mexico City on the 50% occupancy reform, the Ley de Turismo de la Ciudad de México, the city's tourism-law regulation, Airbnb's official host service-fee guidance, federal judicial precedents published by the Suprema Corte de Justicia de la Nación and the Semanario Judicial de la Federación, El Economista's reporting on World Cup short-term-rental performance using AirDNA data, and current Inmuebles24 rental inventory for the conventional-rental comparison.
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