For 2025, the association expects between 6,500 and 7,000 bankruptcies, which would correspond to the level of the previous year. Currently, there are "no realistic signs" that the "existing insolvency surge" will weaken in the foreseeable future, according to KSV insolvency expert Karl-Heinz Götze on Wednesday.

Hundreds of Insolvencies Registered

In the first quarter of 2025 alone, according to KSV1870 estimates, 1,741 companies filed for insolvency. This is 3.1 percent more than the previous year and an average of 19 bankruptcies daily. The trade, construction industry, and gastronomy continue to be drivers, together accounting for about 45 percent of all insolvencies. However, declines were recorded in the construction industry (minus 12 percent) and gastronomy (minus 11.2 percent).

With regard to construction and the slight easing of bankruptcies there, the creditor protectors, referring to local economic researchers, see the "trough slowly being passed," but the situation remains bleak in the real estate and housing sector, which recorded an increase in bankruptcies of nearly 62 percent in the first quarter. Overall, "positive signals from some sectors" are too few to improve "the overall gloomy mood." Götze: "Austria's economy is still on crutches. It needs fresh oxygen more urgently than ever to get back on track."

The preliminary liabilities in the first quarter amount to 2.04 billion euros, an increase of 6.9 percent compared to the previous year's quarter. The high level is partly due to the more fragmented Signa corporate conglomerate, with Signa Prime CM 2017 GmbH, with a volume of 479 million euros, being the largest bankruptcy so far this year. However, with currently twelve major insolvencies (over 10 million euros in liabilities, note), there were six fewer cases in the first quarter than in the same period last year.

Private Bankruptcies Decreased

The development in private bankruptcies is more positive, with the number of cases at 2,131, 8.7 percent lower than in the first quarter of 2024. Declines were recorded in all federal states except Salzburg, where the number increased by 2.9 percent. The largest decline was in Styria (minus 25.4 percent), followed by Carinthia (minus 23 percent) and Upper Austria (minus 11.4 percent). In parallel, preliminary liabilities also decreased by 12.8 percent to 205 million euros. According to KSV1870, this corresponds to an average debt of about 96,000 euros.

(APA/Red)

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