“crown”:Mr. Klien, together with WIFO 2022 you have conducted a survey of the housing market in Salzburg. Has anything changed for the better since then?
Michael customer: The findings have not changed. Now the housing boom is also coming to a halt, for example due to the rise in borrowing rates.
So the situation was precarious and still is?
The living situation in Salzburg is currently unsustainable and above all unsustainable. New construction has always been less pronounced in Salzburg than in the rest of Austria. As mentioned, real estate is even more difficult to acquire. This also affects the rental market as more people enter the rental market. That drives prices. This has socially explosive power. If you can no longer afford to live where you want to live, this has a negative economic effect due to increased commuting. People are driven out of the core city to the surrounding area, or there is a lack of labor because of the high housing costs.
It would be too easy to shift the responsibility to politicians because the housing market is, to a certain extent, free. What can and should still be done to avoid reaching a price level like in Munich?
When the construction boom is over, construction costs can normalize. Construction companies were completely overwhelmed and very expensive until recently. In Salzburg, land and base costs are a big factor. But I don’t see whether a decrease in the construction boom will also cause prices to fall. Because there is simply a lack of building land in Salzburg, especially in good locations.
What would your approach be?
The central question is: How do you make land available, especially for social housing? Residential goals in Salzburg have always been scaled back and yet not achieved. People focus too much on saying that building here and there is not allowed. Politicians should turn this around and consider: where can one re-densify, rededicate, build? There is also no guideline for communities that can be used to measure whether the important goals have been achieved or not.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
