A five-member delegation from the European Parliament visited Vienna for three days to examine the local housing market. In December 2024, the EU Parliament established a one-year special committee on the housing crisis, tasked with developing solutions. The “Vienna model” was frequently cited as a role model, said committee chair Irene Tinagli during a press conference on Wednesday.
The city of Vienna owns more than 220,000 municipal apartments, alongside hundreds of thousands of cooperative housing units and older rent-controlled buildings. According to real estate experts, this mix of municipal, cooperative, and old apartment housing helps keep private market rents in new buildings somewhat in check.
Tinagli emphasized that Vienna’s housing system is “difficult to replicate” in other European cities. However, she added that cities could be inspired by the legal and regulatory framework supporting affordable housing in Vienna. The delegation focused on studying “best practices,” though issues like rising construction costs and land shortages were also raised in meetings.
Site Visits to Aspern and Karl-Marx-Hof
The delegation included MEP Andreas Schieder (SPÖ). On Monday, they met with Vice Chancellor and Housing Minister Andreas Babler and Vienna’s Deputy Mayor and Housing Councillor Kathrin Gaál (both SPÖ). The group also toured the Nordbahnviertel district.
On Tuesday, they held discussions with members of the Austrian parliament’s housing and construction committee. Visits were also made to Seestadt Aspern in Vienna’s 22nd district and to the Karl-Marx-Hof in the 19th district, a historic public housing complex from the 1920s.
Housing Crisis a Europe-Wide Concern
Rising rents and housing shortages have been troubling policymakers across Europe for years. Between 2015 and 2023, house prices in the EU rose by an average of 47%, and in Austria by 63.9%, according to Eurostat. Key drivers of this price surge include higher construction costs, increased mortgage rates, declining building activity (which limits supply), and the growing trend of treating real estate as a financial asset.
Rental prices in the EU also rose sharply, increasing by an average of 18% between 2010 and 2022. One reason cited is the growth of short-term rentals, which reduce the number of homes available for long-term tenants. “The housing crisis is a very complex problem,” said committee chair Tinagli. “There’s no silver bullet. I wish there were a formula.”
