In Austria, 230,000 apartments are empty, while approximately 60,000 new apartments are built every year. This is evident from calculations by environmental protection organization Greenpeace. She therefore advocates a vacancy tax to prevent further sealing of the country.
An example of this is France, where vacancy rates have fallen by 13 percent since the introduction of the levy in 1999, according to Greenpeace. It is also pointed out that 11.5 percent of all apartments in Austria are registered as second homes. The highest percentages of second residences are therefore in Burgenland, but also in Lower Austria and Salzburg.
In any case, the population is growing much slower than the newly built living space. “While this grew by 6.3 percent between 2011 and 2021, living space increased almost twice as much over the same period,” says Greenpeace.
The vacancy rate averages 4.7 percent
On average, the vacancy rate is 4.7 percent. Carinthia (5.7 percent), Tyrol (5.6 percent) and Salzburg (5.2 percent) have the highest figures; at the other end are Vienna with 3.4 percent and Vorarlberg with 3.9 percent.
“If vacant apartments and sporadically used second homes are reactivated, we can save up to 4,170 hectares of space for new buildings – that is approximately the entire land that Austria uses in a year,” Greenpeace expert Melanie Ebner calculated in a press release on Monday.
Source: Krone
I am Wallace Jones, an experienced journalist. I specialize in writing for the world section of Today Times Live. With over a decade of experience, I have developed an eye for detail when it comes to reporting on local and global stories. My passion lies in uncovering the truth through my investigative skills and creating thought-provoking content that resonates with readers worldwide.
