Domestic housing construction is slowing sharply. Significantly fewer building permits were issued in the past year. Compared to the previous year, the number fell by almost 23 percent (17,100) in 2022 to 58,900 – that was the third lowest value since 2010.
Compared to the peak values of 2017 (86,300), followed by 2019 (84,800), building permits across Austria fell by 32 percent (or 27,400) or 31 percent (or 25,900), i.e. by almost a third, according to Statistics Austria.
“Although there have been signs since 2020 that the construction boom has come to an end, housing activity reached a new low in 2022,” emphasizes Tobias Thomas, Director General of Statistics Austria. He said the number of approved apartments is also 14 percent (or 9,700 units) below the average for the entire time series since 2010, which is about 68,600 approved apartments.
Residential building with a large volume and a large impact
Large-scale housing construction has a major influence on the development of the number of building permits. This refers to residential buildings that contain three or more apartments. Between 2010 and 2015, the share in the respective total housing production was still around 49 percent, between 2016 and 2019 the share then rose by almost ten percentage points to just over 59 percent, “and then gradually fell again”. In 2020 that was just under 57 percent, in 2021 around 51 percent and in 2022 it was half again.
According to the statisticians, the share of new one- and two-family homes in all of Austria was 29 percent. With the exception of Vienna, apartments approved for extensions, extensions or conversions to existing buildings accounted for one-fifth of all building permits.
Most permits granted in Vienna
With a share of about 22 percent, the majority of approvals went to the federal capital (not counting extensions, superstructures, and remodels). It was followed by Lower Austria (with just under 19 percent), Upper Austria (around 16 percent), Styria (13 percent), Tyrol (around 9 percent), Carinthia (6 percent), and Salzburg and Vorarlberg, each with around 5 percent. In 2022, the fewest building permits were granted in Burgenland (approximately 3 percent).
Based on the number of inhabitants at the beginning of the year, 6.6 apartments per 1000 inhabitants were approved for construction last year. In this regard, Tyrol had the highest approval rate with 7.3. Vienna (6.8) as well as Vorarlberg, Carinthia and Burgenland were also slightly above average with 6.7 apartments approved each. Lower Austria exactly reached the national average, Styria was below it with 6.1. Salzburg had the lowest percentage nationwide (5.7).
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.
