Vienna. The restrictions during the time of the corona pandemic set the domestic rental housing market in motion. Because traditional target groups – students, tourism workers, expats, seasonal guests – are omitted, there are more rental apartments on the market in cities. And not only in the cheaper segment of small apartments, also in the high-price segment. According to the real estate agents united in the real estate ring, this is very pronounced in Vienna and Salzburg, but also in St. Pölten, for example.
Immobilienring Research has submitted a management report for mid-August 2020 to mid-January 2021. Since new residential construction was catching up, especially in Vienna, the situation regarding affordable housing had eased. In addition, Airbnb apartments pushed onto the market. An increasing number of condominiums are not being bought for personal use, but for renting. In Vienna, the offer for rents up to 750 euros gross has risen by around 40 percent, as is the case in St. Pölten. In categories from 750 to 1250 euros there is ten percent more choice. In Salzburg, the rental apartment supply has almost doubled between 750 and 1000 euros. Meanwhile, the offer in Linz and Klagenfurt has decreased significantly. As before, there are hardly any rental offers in Bregenz.
Behavior of expats
In the case of more expensive apartments, there has recently been a lack of short-term tenants from international corporations or organizations, especially in Vienna and Salzburg, according to the broker association.
For many years the offer in the high-price segment in Vienna and Salzburg was too small. International companies and festivals booked high-quality living space for expats and guests. In Vienna, however, according to the realtors, renting became difficult four or five years ago at 2,000 euros because international companies no longer paid any price for their employees' accommodation. However, there is currently a lack of short-term rents in the high-price segment, according to the real estate ring. As a result, the offer in Vienna for rents between 2000 and 2500 euros has recently increased by 27 percent.
The “imaginary rent cap” has currently fallen to around 1500 euros, reported Immoring Presidents Georg Spiegelfeld and Andreas Gressenbauer. In the range from 1500 to 1750 euros, the offer in Vienna has increased by twelve percent, in Graz and Salzburg by 79 and 68 percent respectively.
The price development
Apartments with around 90 square meters and a gross rent of 12 to 15 euros / m2 and sanitary facilities mostly from the 1970s have been rented to students as shared apartments in recent years. But for ten months there have been no students in the university capitals and the floor plans are usually not suitable for families, according to the brokers.
The online marketplace portal Immowelt.at comes to slightly different figures. Accordingly, rents in Austria continued to rise in nine out of twelve cities, including Vienna with a slight increase of two percent to 14 euros. Even in the most expensive cities of Innsbruck (17.70 euros) and Salzburg (15.70 euros), rents each rose by three percent compared to the previous year. The asking rents for apartments (40 to 120 square meters) in the largest cities in Austria were examined.
In Innsbruck, workers from the long booming tourism industry have competed with students from the university for housing in recent years. According to Immowelt.at, there are no signs that the housing market is now developing differently for this location. (APA / est)
