2024 will also be quite a challenge for home seekers. Rents on the open market are rising and it is more difficult to find offers on the internet. Although property prices continue to fall this year, they are still unaffordable for many due to strict lending guidelines.
“It depends on where you are looking for a home,” says Remax boss Bernhard Reikersdorfer, who, together with 600 experts, has made a price forecast for 2024: real estate prices will fall most dramatically in Burgenland, and least in Carinthia. Apartment buildings in rural communities are experiencing the largest downward price increases; Penthouses and maisonettes are the most cost stable.
Although interest in homes in all price ranges is increasing again, it remains negative overall. Reikersdorfer: ‘The weaker demand is still a result of financing problems in the middle class.’ The controversial credit rule, which prescribes, among other things, 20 percent of equity and a rate of up to 40 percent of net income, has now been confirmed as legal by the Constitutional Court.
Landlord pays mediation costs
If you can’t afford real estate, you have to rent. As a result, demand is currently increasing in all states. The better the location, the more requests there are. “There will be significant price increases in rental prices,” Reikersdorfer is convinced. Not only do more people want to rent a home, there are also fewer apartments on the regular market. One of the reasons is the ‘buyer principle’, whereby since mid-2023 the landlord and not the tenant must bear the agency costs. As a result, many homes are now rented without an agent, which makes the search more difficult because fewer homes are offered on the internet.
The rising prices on the private housing market worry many people because they can hardly afford the costs. There will be a rent increase not only for new rentals, but also for existing contracts with an index clause. The tenants’ association is therefore once again calling for a rent ceiling for everyone and the abolition of fixed-term contracts.
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.
