Prices for houses and flats rose again in 2024 and 2025 after falling in many parts of the country in 2023, according to new figures from Statistik Austria. Prices are still below the record levels seen in 2022, but a separate affordability analysis suggested that a typical home remains out of reach for many households.
So, the situation in Austria hasn't improved much for buyers as prices may no longer be at their absolute peak, but the combination of high property prices, financing rules and purchase costs still makes buying difficult.
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How much do homes cost in Austria now?
In 2025, the median price for owner-occupied flats in Austria was €4,162 per square metre, according to Statistik Austria.
For houses, the median price was €2,836 per square metre. A median price means half the transactions were above that price and half were below it.
That still leaves prices below the 2022 peak. The price per square metre for a house was around €60 lower in 2025 than in 2022. For flats, buyers paid around €200 less per square metre than in 2022.
But that drop from the peak doesn't mean buying has become easy again. Prices rose in both 2024 and 2025 compared with the previous year, following the 2023 fall.
Building land has moved differently. The average price for buildable plots rose to €135 per square metre in 2025, with prices reaching record levels in several provinces.
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Where is property most expensive?
Vienna was the most expensive province for both houses and flats in 2025.
For houses, Vienna had a median price of €5,376 per square metre. It was followed by Vorarlberg at €5,077, Tyrol at €4,828 and Salzburg at €4,766.
At the cheaper end, Burgenland had a median house price of €1,889 per square metre, followed by Styria at €2,421 and Carinthia at €2,609.
For flats, Vienna again topped the list at €5,212 per square metre. Vorarlberg followed at €5,000, Salzburg at €4,968 and Tyrol at €4,965.
The cheapest median flat prices were in Burgenland, at €1,859 per square metre, and Styria, at €2,750.
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Why can a cheaper province still be complicated?
Province-level figures are useful, but they can hide big local differences.
A Durchblicker analysis found that financing an average house is currently not possible for two people on median incomes in 41 of Austria’s 105 districts.
Another twelve districts were classed as difficult to finance.
The comparison is based on the idea that a mortgage becomes unmanageable if the monthly payment exceeds 40 percent of a household’s net income. This 40 percent threshold is also used by Austria’s Financial Market Authority as a guideline for solid mortgage lending.
Since 2015, house prices had risen by 68 percent, while median incomes had risen by 51 percent, according to Durchblicker.
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What lending rules still matter?
Austria’s KIM regulation, which set stricter rules for mortgage lending, expired on June 30th, 2025.
But that does not mean banks are expected to hand out loans without restraint. The Financial Market Authority said its guidance after the end of the KIM regulation still used three basic principles: buyers should bring enough equity, loan repayments should generally not exceed 40 percent of annual net income, and the maximum term should be 35 years.
The FMA said banks can deviate from these guidelines, as long as solid lending is still ensured. But banks need to be able to show that any higher risk is covered by their risk strategy.
For buyers, the practical point is that the expiry of KIM did not simply remove the affordability test from the market.
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What other costs should buyers remember?
The advertised purchase price is only part of the cost. The Arbeiterkammer says buyers should factor in ancillary costs such as land transfer tax, which is 3.5 percent of the purchase price, and the fee for registering the new owner in the land register, which is 1.1 percent of the purchase price.
If the purchase is financed with a mortgage, there may also be extra costs, such as registering the mortgage lien, listed by the Arbeiterkammer at 1.2 percent of the purchase price.
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Key vocabulary
die Eigentumswohnung – owner-occupied flat or condominium
das Wohnhaus – residential house
der Quadratmeterpreis – price per square metre
das bebaubare Grundstück – buildable plot of land
die Grunderwerbsteuer – land transfer tax
die Eintragungsgebühr – registration fee, such as a land register fee
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