Land of Tenants – Austrians are very satisfied with the living situation

In Austria there are 4.16 million main residence, of which 48 percent are owned. On average, 2.17 people live in an apartment of 102 square meters with 3.9 living rooms. With 46 percent, the rental percentage is the second highest in Europe behind Germany by 53 percent. The EU average is 32 percent.

The satisfaction of the house is 8.1 on a scale of 0 to 10, “despite many construction sites in this area”, Regina Fuchs from the Austria Statistics Directorate explained to a media appointment in Vienna. The “many construction sites” did not mean the last broken number of building permits, which reached a record low in 2024, but rather the increase in the rent.

Rent a lot
Rent has recently become more expensive about inflation for many years, Fuchs explained. If only 6 euros per square meter and the operating costs should appear on the total average in 2010, this was 9.80 euros in the previous year. In 2024 alone, rents increased by 4.8 percent, while the consumer price index rose only by 2.9 percent.

The rental costs are put under pressure by social housing. In a municipal apartment, an average of 8 euros per square meter is due, including 8.50 euros in a cooperative apartment, but in a different head rental. New rental is considerably above the average rental prices. Tenants pay the most in Salzburg (11.90 euros). Tyrol and Vorarlberg follow just behind (11.50 and 11.30 euros). It is the cheapest in Carinthia (7.70 euros) and Burgenland (7.40 euros).

Young people who live alone and people from abroad pay more than the overall average. Households of one person under the age of 30 pay 11.30 per square meter (single-family households: 9.70 euros), a households of one person of more than 60-year-olds only 8.50 euros. Households with only Austrian citizens cost life 9.10 euros, households with people without an Austrian, but 11.10 euros.

48 percent of the most important home apartments in real estate
The local, relatively high rental quota is formed by Vienna, where it is 78 percent. Burgenland (22 percent) and Lower Austria (28 percent) can be found on the other side of the scale. In the other countries, the value is between 34 and 40 percent, the study shows “Living 2024” of the Statistics Authority.

The living situation also differs considerably on average, this is separated into real estate and rent. An average condominium has 132 square meters and 4.7 rooms with central heating. In a rental apartment it is almost 69 square meters, 2.9 living rooms and district heating.

Depending on the rental form, the limitation and duration of the contract differs considerably. In the case of a municipal apartment, the duration of the contract is 13.2 years old, in a cooperative apartment it is 8.3 years and for a private main rent for 2.4 years. This has a lot to do with the fact that almost half of private rental prices are limited, while this is very rare in community and cooperative apartments. In Austria, 39 percent of the rental apartments are cooperative apartments, 16 percent community apartments and 45 percent other important rental forms such as private rent.

Building permits have collapsed into the record Low
The building permits achieved a record low in 2024. Compared to the maximum level of 71,805 permits (buildings with one or two apartments and buildings with three or more apartments) in 2017, the 31,867 permits 2024 corresponding more than one half -finger. As early as 2023 there were not many more permits than in the previous year.

When buying real estate, inventory objects have become cheaper with the gymnastics sound of interest rates. It was only a slight upward trend in the last quarter of 2024. New apartments and houses fell shortly before the price – namely in 2023 by 0.3 percent – and became 2.7 percent more expensive in the previous year. According to the Statistics Authority, the purchases themselves are also rising again – since the second quarter of 2024.