Austria

Individuals and organizations seeking to address Austria's housing crisis include government officials, NGOs, and private entities. The Austrian Federal Ministry of Social Affairs supports initiatives like the "Housing First" model, which aims to end homelessness by providing affordable housing with integrated support. BAWO, an umbrella organization for homeless support services, plays a crucial role in coordinating these efforts.

Potential collaboration partners include academic institutions focused on sustainable housing and urban planning, real estate companies like those involved in limited-profit housing (GBVs), startups offering innovative housing solutions, and NGOs such as those participating in the "arriving home" project. In academia, universities with departments of urban planning, architecture, and environmental sciences could be valuable partners. In the real estate sector, companies specializing in affordable and sustainable developments are key players. Startups focusing on green technologies and smart housing solutions could also contribute. Lastly, NGOs working on homelessness and affordable housing initiatives are essential for on-the-ground support.

Austria’s housing crisis is marked by a tightening availability of affordable homes, regional price disparities, and rising pressures on renters and buyers. The number of new housing units being completed has fallen, particularly in urban areas where demand is highest. This shortage is contributing to rising rents, with economists and industry observers warning that cities like Vienna face ongoing upward pressure on rental prices, especially after the recent end of a rent freeze in 2024.

Average Austrian rents nationally hover around 9.4 Euros per square meter but are significantly higher in prime regions such as Vienna, Salzburg, and Tyrol. In Vienna, for example, monthly rents for studios typically range from 630 to 890 Euros, while 1-bedroom apartments rent for about 975 to 1,045 Euros per month. Property prices also show large regional differences: as of mid-2025, 150-square-meter houses cost roughly 1,074,500 Euros in Tyrol, 962,000 Euros in Vienna, and 363,500 Euros in Burgenland, the country’s most affordable region.

The groups most affected by the housing crisis include low- and middle-income households, young families, first-time buyers restricted by strict lending rules, and migrants, including refugees. Homelessness, though relatively low by European standards, is growing, with about 20,000 people officially registered as homeless—a figure that may be twice as high in reality due to hidden homelessness. Asylum seekers and new migrants are particularly vulnerable amid the shortfall of affordable homes and tightening rental markets.

Austria currently has one of the largest rental housing markets in Europe. About 54% of Austrians own their primary residence, while roughly 41% rent their homes. Vienna is exceptional, with over 75% of residents renting and approximately 60% of the city’s population living in some form of social or public housing. Nationally, the homeownership rate remains far below the EU average of 70%, largely due to generous support for renting and limited tax incentives for buying.

For prices, the nationwide median rent per square meter is around 10–14 Euros for typical apartments. The median purchase price per square meter for apartments is about 4,700 Euros, with considerable regional variation—Vienna and Tyrol are most expensive, and rural areas least. Recent corrections saw a slight national decline in purchase prices but rents are set to rise in 2025 after lifting a rent freeze.

Publicly owned and social housing play a crucial role, especially in Vienna, where the city owns 220,000 apartments directly and promotes another 200,000 through supported cooperatives. Public housing in Vienna is mostly synonymous with social housing, which is regulated, income-limited, and intended for broad social inclusion rather than only low-income residents. The Viennese social housing model is seen as a global benchmark for affordability and integration. Public housing outside of Vienna generally refers to municipally owned or regulated housing, which may be less extensive and less integrated than Vienna’s broad and inclusive model.

Austria’s current national government is addressing affordable and sustainable housing by implementing reforms and targeted programs. The coalition agreement includes 55 housing-related measures such as a rent brake, capping rent increases at 1–2% for 2026–2027, and extending the minimum term for rental contracts from three to five years. The government also aims to strengthen new construction and renovation, especially of affordable apartments, to support the construction sector and stabilize housing affordability.

A central strategy is the expansion of the “Housing First” model, intended to permanently end homelessness by providing 25,000 affordable homes combined with integrated support services—this initiative has shown high success rates in pilot projects. The state also supports large yearly investments via the “Wohnbauförderung” scheme (housing subsidy program), which provided around 2.2 billion Euros for new construction, renovations, and housing allowances in 2023. Sustainable housing is encouraged through green building incentives, decarbonization programs (with recent federal spending of 370 million Euros in 2023), and urban planning policies that prioritize energy-efficient developments and ecological standards.

While budget cuts have reduced federal support for decarbonization this year, the government’s ongoing targets include increasing affordable housing supply and modernizing the residential sector for climate resilience. The focus remains on maintaining Austria’s integrated rental market and supporting vulnerable groups via nonprofit partnerships, subsidies, and regulatory reforms.

Housing cooperatives in Austria, organized as “gemeinnützige Bauvereinigungen” (GBVs), play a key role in providing affordable, high-quality housing nationwide. The sector consists of 176 non-profit associations, including 91 cooperatives, which collectively manage over 1 million dwellings. Of these, about two-thirds are rental and cooperative apartments, while 30% are owner-occupied. GBVs account for roughly 25% of all housing units in the country and more than 40% of multi-unit housing construction. They also deliver the vast majority of newly built affordable rental homes, with a market share exceeding 80% in the lowest price segments.

Despite a recent decline in building activity due to rising costs and lower permitting, the sector remains a leader in affordable and energy-efficient construction and renovation, with significant investment in sustainable housing and heating decarbonization. Government policy supports cooperative and social housing through subsidies (Wohnbauförderung), regulatory incentives, and targeted programs such as a recent billion-euro federal package to boost affordable housing supply and modernization. Housing cooperatives are strictly regulated by the Nonprofit Housing Act to ensure affordability, long-term tenancies, and social responsibility. National initiatives aim to strengthen the sector’s capacity to deliver new affordable units and meet climate goals, securing its ongoing central role in Austria’s housing system.