Rent in Austria explode: Living is so expensive 2024!

Rent in Austria explode: Living is so expensive 2024!

Österreich - The apartment rents in Austria rose drastically in 2024. According to vorarlberg.orf there was a total increase of 4.5 percent compared to the previous year. The average rental price including operating costs was 653.60 euros, which corresponds to 9.8 euros per square meter. In Vorarlberg in particular, rental prices rose to 11.3 euros per square meter. This development makes Austria one of the countries with the highest rental price increases in Europe. While the average inflation rate in Austria is 3.3 percent, rents in Germany have increased by remarkable 70.3 percent since 2010, which is well above the European average of 23.5 percent.

The numbers also show that tenants in Austria suffer from rapidly increasing costs. In the 4th quarter of 2024 the average rent without operating costs was 502.1 euros, which corresponds to an increase of 5.6 percent in the year, as Sn.at . A quarter of the 1.7 million rental budgets are exposed to rent increases unprotected, especially in freely financed residential construction. Leonard Jüngling, residential and inflation expert, criticizes that the government's rental price stopped only applies to regulated tenancy and thus still under pressure.

the political reactions

The SPÖ therefore calls for an expansion of the rental price brake to help tenants. Hanel-Torsch, SPÖ residential building spokeswoman, emphasizes that the rental price stop also includes administrative costs and demands that the rents of old building apartments may only be increased moderately. However, the trained expert Jüngling warns that the measures are only a partial solution and that in many areas there is still an acute need for action in order not to further burden the tenants.