Criticism from AK – The government hardly carried out any rental and housing construction projects

Among other things, there was no change in the rental law and no further earmarking of housing subsidies. The AK expert also criticized the increased supply of public land for subsidized housing and the initiatives to reduce construction costs, announced in the government program.

Overall, the Chamber of Labor does not give the current government a good report on housing: private rents, apartment purchase prices and fixed-term rental contracts have “increased sharply” over the past five years.

Compared to other European countries, Austria is the leader in terms of house prices:

AK criticizes: ‘No effective rent brake’
During record inflation, the government failed to implement an “effective rent brake” and the construction stimulus package was put together too late, Ritt said. He cited preventing evictions during the pandemic and eliminating the broker commission for tenants as positive government measures.

At the press conference, Lukas Tockner, housing expert at AK Vienna, referred to the drifting apart of property prices and rents compared to the general inflation rate. Prices for houses and apartments across Austria have risen by an average of 133 percent since 2008, new master leases have risen by 71 percent and the consumer price index has only risen by 48 percent.

Despite the “overproduction” of housing since 2019, this has not depressed property prices and rents, Tockner said. More than 320,000 new housing units were built, even though demand was less than 250,000. Two-thirds of the apartments were “freely financed”, often for investors, and only a third were built with housing subsidies, the AK expert said. Tockner also described the increase in the number of fixed-term rental contracts by 82,000 to around 400,000 as a problem of housing policy. “Fixed terms have almost only disadvantages.”

AK appeals to new government for affordable housing
After the National Council elections at the end of September, the AK demands more measures from the new federal government in the area of ​​rents and housing construction. “The new government must seriously work on affordable housing,” Ritt said. The AK advocates, among other things, the abolition of fixed-term rental contracts, a reform of tenancy law with a rent ceiling and fines for excessive rents. In addition, there must be “a permanent billion in housing subsidies” and the public sector may only make its own land available for subsidized housing.