In 2024, rents including operating costs in Austria increased by an average of 4.5% compared to the previous year. The increase from 2022 to 2023 had been 7.4%. This affected 1.79 million main rental apartments in Austria, with a quarter being temporary leases. On average, the rental duration was 11.4 years. The average rent including operating costs in 2024 was 653.60 euros, which corresponds to 9.8 euros per square meter, according to Statistics Austria.

Excluding operating costs, the rent was 492.5 euros per apartment or 7.4 euros per square meter. Operating costs were 163.7 euros per apartment or 2.5 euros per square meter in the previous year. For new leases (leases with a term of less than two years), the average rent, including operating costs, was 11.8 euros per square meter. For old contracts that have been in place for 30 years or more, the rent was 6.3 euros per square meter.

Rent Prices with Operating Costs at 12.80 Euros/Square Meter

The average rent, including operating costs, for temporary leases was 12.8 euros per square meter, while for permanent leases, it was 8.8 euros per square meter. Among private main rental contracts, 49.5% were temporary leases (400,400 apartments), according to Statistics Austria.

Compared to the same quarter last year, rental prices increased by 4.2% in the 4th quarter of 2024. Compared to the previous quarter, the average monthly rent, including operating costs, remained unchanged at 9.9 euros per square meter in the last three months of the previous year. The average rent without operating costs increased by 5.6% in the 4th quarter of 2024, reaching 7.5 euros per square meter.

The average rent, including operating costs, in the last quarter of the year was 662.9 euros per apartment. The rent without operating costs in the 4th quarter of 2024 was 502.1 euros per apartment or 7.5 euros per square meter. The net rent per square meter increased by 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Operating costs averaged 164.0 euros per apartment, and operating costs per square meter were 2.5 euros in the final quarter.

Austria Leads in Rent Increases

The trade union-affiliated Momentum Institute stated on Tuesday that rents in Austria rose three times more than in the Eurozone in 2024. “Austria ranks fourth among the countries where rental prices have increased the most since 2010,” the institute said, citing data from the European Statistics Authority. Only in Estonia, Lithuania, and Ireland did rents rise more than in Austria. “While rents in Austria increased by 70.3%, rents in the Eurozone increased by only 23.5% on average,” the critique continued. To put this in context, the general inflation rate in Austria is 3.3% in February, while in the Eurozone, it is 2.4%.

Leonard Jüngling, housing and inflation expert at the Momentum Institute, pointed out on Tuesday that the government’s rent price cap for this year only applies to regulated rental agreements, not in privately financed housing. “Here, the average rent is the highest,” said the expert. A quarter of the 1.7 million rental households are still exposed to uncontrolled rent increases.

SPÖ Calls for Expansion of Rent Price Cap

For SPÖ housing spokesperson Elke Hanel-Torsch, “this highlights how important a rent price cap is.” She reminds that the price cap also applies to the administrative fee, which tenants pay as part of the operating costs. “In the following years, rents for old buildings, municipal, and cooperative apartments can only increase by 1% (2026) and a maximum of 2% (2027),” she explained. Additionally, the new government has committed in its program to introduce a rent price cap for rental apartments not covered by the Rent Law “as soon as possible.”