Further increases are to be expected. Council housing has increased less than private housing.
Rental costs averaged EUR 9.1 per square meter in the first quarter of this year. This corresponds to a plus of 7.8 percent compared to the first quarter of 2022, Statistics Austria reported on Wednesday. The monthly rents without operating costs per square meter increased accordingly 8.4 percent to the same quarter of the previous year. Further increases are to be expected.
The increases in benchmark and category rents that took place in April and May are not yet included in this calculation. A further increase in category rents of 5.5 percent is imminent as of July 1st.
The governing parties ÖVP and the Greens had not agreed on a rent brake in the spring, which the smaller coalition partner, in contrast to the People’s Party, would have liked to see. A compromise was reached with one-off payments. 250 million euros were made available for housing assistance, 25 million of them as an increase for the housing umbrella against evictions.
More increases
“At the beginning of 2023, rents in Austria rose again,” recalled Statistics Austria boss Tobias Thomas in a broadcast. “In the first quarter, the average monthly rent including operating costs was EUR 611.9 per main rental apartment or EUR 9.1 per square meter.”
Thomas warns that if inflation remains at a high level, tenants with a value retention clause in the rental agreement would have to expect further increases. “In addition, the benchmark rents were raised in April and the category rent will be adjusted in July,” reminds the head of the authority. “We therefore assume that housing costs will continue to rise in the coming quarters.”
Operating costs in the first three months of this year averaged EUR 156.9 per apartment or EUR 2.4 per square meter. The rent without operating costs (net rent) was EUR 457.7 per main rental apartment or EUR 6.8 per square meter. Net rent per square meter increased by 2.6 percent compared to the previous quarter, the fourth quarter of 2022, and by 8.4 percent to the first quarter of 2022.
A look at the development of operating costs by rental segment shows that the increase in net rent is highest for privately rented apartments. The average net rent per square meter there was 8.4 euros in the first quarter of 2023. Compared to the same quarter of the previous year (first quarter of 2022: 7.7 euros), this means an increase of 10.3 percent.
Council housing cheaper
In an average comparison, council flats had the cheapest net rent at EUR 5.0 per square meter. Here, the increase compared to the same quarter of the previous year (first quarter of 2022: EUR 4.6) was 6.9 percent below the Austrian average. At 5.4 percent, only cooperative housing recorded an even lower increase compared to the same quarter of the previous year. The average net rent there was 5.6 euros in the first quarter of 2023 (first quarter of 2022: 5.4 euros).
The rental costs refer to an extrapolated 1.76 million main rental apartments in Austria.