Salzburg is known as an expensive place to live in Austria, as numerous statistics show. That is why a lot of construction finally has to be done outside the city.
The issue of housing was prominent in the municipal elections in almost all 119 cities of Salzburg. Left and right, even in the middle: rarely has there been such an extensive political debate about renting and buying.
Data from Statistics Austria from the micro-census housing survey allows only one conclusion: in Salzburg there is an acute need for action to create housing. If the federal state and the city remain at the bottom of the rankings when it comes to construction activities, the unwanted top position in the ‘highest rents’ category is likely to be consolidated.
Only in Vienna there are more private rental properties
This fact is already hitting Austria’s sixth largest population group hard. With 38 percent of the total housing market, Salzburg had the highest percentage of private rental apartments, after the exceptional case of Vienna in 2022. Those who rent on the open housing market have above-average costs. In the city of Mozart, for example, it is hard to find homes for less than 20 euros per square meter.
Those who should move here for education or work reasons think twice about moving due to the extremely high cost of living. It is therefore obvious that Salzburg is also at the top in the departure statistics.
Salzburg has always been a high-price country and probably always will be. But there is certainly room for maneuver: will Salzburg be completely unfinanceable in terms of rent in the future or will it simply remain expensive? It is certainly not enough to simply increase construction activity in the city. “Responsible state policy must finally get underway when it comes to housing construction. This concerns both the people who are heavily burdened by high housing costs and the economy, which is struggling with a growing labor shortage,” reiterates Peter Eder, boss of the Salzburg Chamber of Labor.
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.
