Apartments 7% cheaper

Despite price decline: real estate remains a slow seller

Apartments in Upper Austria became 7.2% cheaper.(Bild: Scharinger Daniel)

It is the dream of many: Owning your own house or apartment. Prices for residential property have risen massively in recent years, but according to Statistics Austria, they fell again for the first time in 2023. Austria-wide by an average of 3.7 percent, with particularly sharp declines in Upper Austria.

Houses became 4.4 percent cheaper here compared to the previous year, while the cost of apartments fell by as much as 7.2 percent, which is the largest price decline in Austria. House prices only rose in the federal state of Salzburg, where, as in Styria and Tyrol, houses also became more expensive.

Slump in purchases
However, the falling prices do not appear to have fueled the desire to buy, with inflation and the war shock continuing to dampen demand. "The number of residential property purchases has plummeted by 28.2 percent in the previous year," says Tobias Thomas from Statisik Austria.

"Lights at the end of the tunnel"
The trend seems to be towards renting. "There has been strong demand for rental apartments recently," says Bernhard Reikersdorfer from RE/MAX Austria.

But the sector also sees "lights at the end of the tunnel" when it comes to property purchases. "Politicians have announced favorable housing loans, for example," says Reikersdorfer.