Rental price stop in Vienna: What does that mean for the tenants?

Rental price stop in Vienna: What does that mean for the tenants?

A controversial decision was made in today's Council of Ministers of the new Federal Government, which took place on March 5, 2025: freezing the value security for rental prices. This was sharply criticized by Anton Holzapfel, the managing director of the Austrian Association of the Real estate industry (ÖVI). He explained that freezing the values, especially for the heavily regulated old building apartments in Vienna, was not objectively understandable. This affects around 1.8 million rental apartments nationwide, with 725,000 rental contracts in Vienna alone. A waiver of the increase in category A amounts decided in the previous year would have already meant a noticeable loss of 7.8 % for landlords, which further tightened the situation for many real estate owners, reported ots.at.

At the same time, further important measures to renovate budgets were decided in the Council of Ministers. This includes a bank levy and the abolition of educational leave. In view of the economic situation, the budget is to be adopted by the end of April or early May. A stop was also announced for rental prices to prevent an increase of around three percent, which would have been expected from April. According to State Secretary Michaela Schmidt, this rental price stop should save a total of 140 million euros in rent expenses, such as The press reported. The focus is also on the search for an appropriate regulation for new buildings, even if this is legally more complex.

Diverse reactions to the measures

The decision to freeze the valuables does not come without controversy. The Chamber of Labor demands that the freely financed apartments are also included in the considerations, since rental prices are often high. Critics of the measures argue that the rents will stagnate by freezing at a high level, which ignores the need to compensate for the sometimes increased wage and administrative costs. Anton Holzapfel warned that such political decisions could undermine the willingness to invest in the field of quality and ecology in the long term, which ultimately harms tenant satisfaction. The political individual measures in the Council of Ministers were interpreted as a blow against a fair real estate market, so that the tenancy law and the budget are being waited excitedly.