Austrians are very happy with their housing situation. Residential satisfaction scores 8.1 on a scale from 0 to 10, “despite many challenges in this area,” explained Regina Fuchs from the Population Directorate of Statistik Austria on Friday at a media briefing in Vienna. These “challenges” did not refer to the sharply dropped number of building permits—which hit a record low in 2024—but rather to rising rents.
Rent costs have outpaced inflation for many years, Fuchs noted. While in 2010 the average total rent (including operating costs) was €6 per square meter, last year it was €9.80. In 2024 alone, rents rose by 4.8 percent, whereas the consumer price index increased by only 2.9 percent.
Social housing helps to curb rents. In a municipal apartment, tenants pay an average of €8 per square meter (including operating costs); in a cooperative apartment, €8.50; but in other main rental contracts, €11.60. New leases are well above average. Renters in Salzburg pay the most at €11.90 per square meter, followed closely by Tyrol (€11.50) and Vorarlberg (€11.30). The cheapest rents are found in Carinthia (€7.70) and Burgenland (€7.40).
Young people living alone and foreigners pay more than the overall average. One-person households under 30 pay €11.30 per square meter (single-family households: €9.70), while one-person households over 60 pay only €8.50. Households consisting solely of Austrian citizens pay €9.10 per square meter; households with at least one non-Austrian national pay €11.10.
48 Percent of Main Residences Are Owner-Occupied
Austria has 4.16 million main-residence dwellings, of which 48 percent are owner-occupied. On average, 2.17 persons live in a 102-square-meter apartment with 3.9 rooms. The rental rate—46 percent—is the second highest in Europe after Germany (53 percent). The EU average is 32 percent.
Vienna largely drives Austria’s relatively high rental rate, at 78 percent. At the other end of the scale are Burgenland (22 percent) and Lower Austria (28 percent). In other states, the rate ranges between 34 and 40 percent, the Statistik Austria “Housing 2024” report shows.
Housing conditions also differ markedly, on average, between ownership and renting. A typical owner-occupied apartment has 132 square meters and 4.7 rooms with central heating. A rental apartment has about 69 square meters, 2.9 rooms, and district heating.
Contract durations vary significantly by rental type. In a municipal apartment, the average contract lasts 13.2 years; in a cooperative apartment, 8.3 years; and in a private main rental, 2.4 years. This is largely because nearly half of all private main rentals are time-limited, whereas this is very rare in municipal and cooperative housing. In Austria, 39 percent of rental apartments are cooperative, 16 percent are municipal, and 45 percent are other private rentals.
Building Permits Plummet to Record Low
Building permits reached a record low in 2024. Compared with the peak of 71,805 permits (buildings with one or two apartments and buildings with three or more apartments) in 2017, the 31,867 permits in 2024 represent more than a 50 percent drop. In 2023, permit numbers had already barely exceeded the previous year’s.
Existing properties became more affordable with the interest-rate turnaround. Only in Q4 2024 did prices begin a slight upward trend. New apartments and houses saw prices fall briefly—by 0.3 percent in 2023—before rising 2.7 percent last year. According to Statistik Austria, purchases are rising again—since Q2 2024. Before that, there had been declines since Q3 2021, culminating in sharp drops in 2022 and 2023.
Prices also show massive regional differences similar to rents. Apartments and houses in the west and in metropolitan centers cost significantly more.
