Young people move away

Second most expensive land: affordable housing is rare

At 1250 euros, the municipality is in second place in Salzburg in terms of building plot prices.(Bild: Scharinger Daniel)

Can you still afford to live in Elsbethen? The two challengers for the position of mayor see failures, especially in the sports facility, where an opportunity was missed. The ÖVP takes a completely different view. 

At 1250 euros per square meter, Elsbethen has the second-highest average building plot prices in the province. Salzburg is in first place. Under the ÖVP leadership, Elsbethen has done too little for affordable housing. This is criticized by Maria Steindl and Horst Sattler, who, like the new ÖVP candidate Matthias Herbst, want to become head of the village.

Difficult for young citizens to get affordable land
"Young people are already having to move away with a heavy heart because they can't get an affordable property," says Deputy Mayor Steindl (WfE). Elsbethen has made no effort to secure plots of land. "The municipality has not been willing to buy land in recent years," says municipal representative Horst Sattler (FPÖ).

Both see a missed opportunity because the new sports facility was built in the town center - 100 new apartments could have been built on the municipal land. Now there are already complaints from residents about noise around the facility.

ÖVP mayor Sebastian Haslauer, who has been in office since July 2023, defends the decision at the time. There was a broad consensus. Otherwise, the athletes would have been "driven out of the center of the community".

He sees the proximity to the city of Salzburg and its jobs as the reason for the extremely high land prices. At the same time, there are only a few building land reserves in the municipality. "The municipality has been successfully pursuing the goal of creating high-quality and affordable living space for years," says Haslauer, expressing his satisfaction. The municipality is currently looking to purchase more than 5,000 square meters of land and dedicate it to subsidized housing. Negotiations are underway.