According to Statistics Austria, the average rent including operating costs is 653.60 euros per month or 9.8 euros per square meter. Excluding operating costs, the operating costs amounted to 492.5 euros per apartment or 7.4 euros per square meter. In the previous year, it was 163.7 euros per apartment or 2.5 euros per square meter. New rentals with a term of less than two years had an average rent including operating costs of 11.8 euros per square meter. For contracts that have existed for 30 years or longer, the rent was 6.3 euros per square meter.

Rent Including Operating Costs at 12.80 Euros/Square Meter

On average, the rent including operating costs for fixed-term main rental apartments was 12.8 euros per square meter, while indefinite main rental apartments had a square meter price of 8.8 euros. In private main rental contracts, the proportion of fixed-term rental contracts was 49.5 percent (400,400 apartments), explained Statistics Austria in a release. Year-on-year, apartment rents increased by 4.2 percent in the 4th quarter of 2024. Compared to the previous quarter, the monthly average rent in the last three months of the previous year including operating costs remained unchanged at 9.9 euros per square meter. The average rent without operating costs increased by 5.6 percent year-on-year in the 4th quarter of 2024 to 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 was 502.1 euros per main rental apartment or 7.5 euros per square meter in the 4th quarter of 2024. The net rent per square meter thus increased by 5.6 percent compared to the previous year's quarter. The operating costs averaged 164.0 euros per apartment. The operating costs per square meter were 2.5 euros in the final quarter.

Austria Leader in Rent Increases

The union-affiliated Momentum Institute calculated on Tuesday that rents in Austria rose three times more strongly in 2024 than in the Eurozone. "Austria ranks fourth among the countries where rental prices have increased the most on average since 2010," said the institute, referring to data from the European Statistics Authority. Only in Estonia, Lithuania, and Ireland have rents increased more than in this country. "While they rose by 70.3 percent in Austria, rents in the Eurozone were only increased by 23.5 percent on average," the criticism stated. For context: Currently (February value), the general inflation in Austria is 3.3 percent, in the Eurozone 2.4 percent. Leonard Jüngling, housing and inflation expert at the Momentum Institute, pointed out on Tuesday that the rent price freeze decided by the government for this year only applies to regulated rental relationships, but not in privately financed housing. "It is precisely here that the average rent is the highest," said the expert. Of the total 1.7 million rental households, a quarter is still exposed to rent increases without restraint.

SPÖ Wants to Expand Rent Price Cap

For SPÖ housing spokesperson Elke Hanel-Torsch, it shows "how important the rent price freeze is." She reminds that the price freeze also applies to the administration fee, which is paid by tenants as part of the operating costs. "In the following years, the rents of old buildings, municipal, and cooperative apartments may only be increased by 1 percent (2026) or a maximum of 2 percent (2027)," she calculated. Furthermore, the new government has committed in its program that there should be a rent price cap "as soon as possible" for rental apartments that do not fall under the full scope of the Tenancy Law.

(APA/Red)

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