What do interest rates cost, and what do prices, rents and loans say about the housing market? This chapter works through four cases: saving with compound interest and tax, a home loan with a repayment schedule, the purchase price with ancillary costs and affordability, and the question of buying or renting. In addition there are the current rates (ECB, Euribor, OeNB, bank offers), ten years of price, rent and lending data, and a barometer of key figures that describes the situation without giving a recommendation. Every figure carries a date and a source (as of 7 October 2026); the calculators are models with open assumptions and not investment advice. Your entries stay in your browser and are neither stored nor sent.
What does money that earns interest become, and what is left of it after tax and inflation? The savings calculator works with a starting amount and a monthly deposit, deducts the tax on investment income and shows what the result is worth in today’s purchasing power. The interest rates and inflation rates you can tap are offers and statistics with a date and a source (as of 7 October 2026); you can overwrite every value.
Starting amount, deposits, compound interest, tax and inflation
How it is calculated. Interest is credited every month at a twelfth of the annual rate, the tax on investment income is deducted from every credit, and the deposit is added at the end of the month. Purchasing power is the balance divided by (1 + inflation) to the power of the years. Rate and inflation stay the same over the whole term in the model; in reality they do not.
How to read this. The rates on the buttons are offers of individual banks or averages of the OeNB statistics, not a recommendation and not a promise. Promotional rates for new customers apply for only three to four months in the offers checked (sparzinsen.at; bank99, flexsparen99); they are not included, the rate in the calculator applies to the whole term.
Evidence. Federal Ministry of Finance, taxation of domestic investment income; Income Tax Act 1988, section 27a; OeNB, deposit rates, new business; OeNB, loan rates, outstanding amounts; sparzinsen.at; bank99, fixsparen99; bank99, flexsparen99; Hypo Tirol, online fixed deposit; Statistics Austria, inflation August 2026; Statistics Austria, inflation September 2026, flash estimate. The full references are in the sources block below.
How much does the difference make, with the same input?
The defaults (0.50%, 2.15%, 3.00%) stand for an overnight account after the promotion, the OeNB average for new deposits of up to 1 year and the best tax-simple 12-month fixed deposit. Starting amount, deposit, term, tax and crediting come from the savings calculator above.
Evidence. OeNB, deposit rates, new business; bank99, flexsparen99; sparzinsen.at. The full references are in the sources block below.
Deposit for a target amount and time to the target
The target is a final amount after tax, in nominal terms. The first line asks: which monthly deposit reaches the target in the term set? The second: how long does it take with the deposit set?
Real yield after tax per year, rates and inflation rates side by side
The real rate says by how much the purchasing power of a balance grows or shrinks per year. It is calculated exactly here: (1 + rate after tax) divided by (1 + inflation), minus 1. As an approximation, rate minus inflation is often used (ECB, nominal and real interest rates; Bundesbank, glossary “real interest rate”); for small values the two hardly differ. Every cell shows its sign: red means a loss of purchasing power, green a gain, the thick frame marks your setting from the savings calculator.
Figures in percent per year, after tax, for a term of one year and the tax and crediting settings of the savings calculator.
What the model does and what it leaves out
| Assumption | What it means |
|---|---|
| Constant rate | The rate stays the same over the whole term. For overnight money it changes all the time in reality, for a fixed deposit it applies only for the agreed period. |
| Monthly crediting | Every month a twelfth of the annual rate is credited, after the tax. The interest earns interest from the next month on. |
| Deposit at the end of the month | The deposit is paid in at the end of the month and earns interest from the next month. Paying in at the start of the month gives slightly more. |
| Crediting once a year | The deposit of month m earns (12 − m) twelfths of the annual rate in the first year; crediting and tax follow at the end of the year, after that the interest earns interest itself. |
| Tax | The tax on investment income is deducted from every credit (25% for interest on bank deposits, 27.5% for other investment income; Federal Ministry of Finance, taxation of domestic investment income; Income Tax Act 1988, section 27a). Allowances, loss offsetting and tax assessment are left out. |
| Constant inflation | Purchasing power falls by the same percentage every year. Actual inflation varies (2024: 2.9%, 2025: 3.6%; Statistics Austria, inflation 2024; Statistics Austria, inflation 2025). |
| Not included | Account fees, bonuses, promotional rates and minimum deposits are not included. |
Check to recalculate. A starting amount of €5,000, €200 a month, 3.00% gross, 10 years, 25% tax and monthly crediting give an end balance of €33,146.58 (our own calculation, which you can check in a spreadsheet: balance = balance + balance × 3% / 12 × 0.75 + 200, repeated 120 times).
How high is the instalment, what does the loan cost in total, and what changes when the rate rises? The loan calculator works out an annuity loan with a constant monthly instalment and shows the repayment schedule, optionally with a rate change after the fixed-rate period, extra repayments and fees. The rates you can tap are statistics and offers with a date and a source (as of 7 October 2026); you can overwrite every value. A loan for the purchase price of a flat including ancillary costs and own funds is worked out in the “Buying” tab.
Instalment, interest, remaining debt and effective annual rate
How it is calculated. It is an annuity loan: the instalment stays the same and is paid at the end of the month. The interest of a month is calculated on the remaining debt, the rest of the instalment repays. So the first instalment consists to a large part of interest and the last one almost only of repayment. The borrowing rate is the interest on the capital borrowed; fees are not part of it, they are in the effective annual rate.
How to read this. The rates on the buttons are best values of a comparison site (durchblicker.at), an advertised “from” figure (Bank Austria), an example (bank99), the average of all new loans (OeNB) and the average of all outstanding loans (OeNB). According to the banks, the rate you get depends on creditworthiness, own funds, volume and term (Bank Austria, housing loan; bank99, housing loan). The borrowing rate alone says little about the cost: a low borrowing rate is not enough to judge an offer as cheap (AK Vienna, mortgage comparison, August 2020). By law, the effective annual rate includes further costs besides the interest (Mortgage and Real Estate Credit Act, HIKrG); the calculator imitates this with processing, valuation and account fees, without the registration of the lien and without insurance. This is a model, not an offer.
Evidence. durchblicker.at, loan rates; Bank Austria, housing loan; bank99, housing loan; OeNB, loan rates, new business; OeNB, loan rates, outstanding amounts; AK Vienna, mortgage comparison, August 2019; AK Vienna, mortgage comparison, August 2020; AK, press release of 11 July 2023; AK, checklist of housing finance costs; AK Vienna, loan guide, as of March 2026; Mortgage and Real Estate Credit Act, HIKrG. The full references are in the sources block below.
Interest and repayment share from month to month
With a constant instalment, its make-up shifts. At the start the debt is high and a large part of the instalment is interest; with every repayment the debt falls, the interest share shrinks and the repayment share grows. Drag the slider through the months or let it play. The values follow the loan calculator above.
Year by year or month by month
The schedule shows instalment, interest, repayment and remaining debt of the loan calculator above for every year or month. “Copy table” puts it on the clipboard with tabs so that you can paste it into a spreadsheet. The schedule is calculated without fees and without rounding to the cent; your bank’s schedule can differ by small amounts because of fees and rounding.
Instalment and interest at a higher and a lower rate
The table calculates the same loan (amount, term, conversion) at a rate that is one percentage point lower to three percentage points higher, without rate change and without extra repayments. The chart shows the instalment for every rate; use the arrow keys to move along it.
What a rise in rates can do. According to the OeNB, the average rate on newly granted housing loans rose from 1.18% (January 2022) to 3.33% (January 2023); for a new loan of €250,000 over 25 years that means an average instalment of about €960 against about €1,230 (OeNB, Statistiken H1/23). On loans with a variable rate, such a rise arrives in the instalment: the interest on the stock of variable-rate housing loans rose from 1.10% (June 2022) to as much as 4.86% (March 2024) (OeNB, Statistiken H2/24). Variable loans at bank99 are tied to the 3-month Euribor, and at Hypo Tirol the 3-month Euribor plus a margin applies after the fixed period (bank99, housing loan; Hypo Tirol, housing loan). You can play through such a jump yourself under “Rate change after the fixed-rate period” in the loan calculator. Whether the instalment or the term is adjusted when the rate changes is set by the contract; no general source for Austria was found, so the calculator offers both.
Evidence. OeNB, Statistiken H1/23; OeNB, Statistiken H2/24; bank99, housing loan; Hypo Tirol, housing loan. The full references are in the sources block below.
The same loan over 10 to 35 years
A longer term lowers the instalment but raises the interest cost, because the money stays borrowed for longer. The table and the columns calculate your loan (amount, rate, conversion) with terms from 10 to 35 years; if your term is a different one, it appears as a row of its own. In its circular 02/2025 on sound lending for residential real estate, the FMA recommends a term of at most 35 years; the circular is not a regulation (FMA, circular 02/2025; FMA, residential real estate loans).
Evidence. FMA, circular 02/2025; FMA, residential real estate loans. The full references are in the sources block below.
The instalment at the average rates from 2021 to 2026
The table calculates the loan set above with the average rate on new housing loans in Austria in ten months since February 2021 (OeNB statistics). It is a thought experiment: it shows how strongly the instalment depends on the level of interest rates, and not which rate a particular bank charged then or whether you would have been granted the loan. The peak was 4.34% in November 2023, the latest value 3.61% in August 2026 (OeNB, loan rates, new business).
For January 2022 and January 2023 two issues of the OeNB give different values (1.18% and 3.33% in issue H1/23, 1.15% and 3.49% in issue H1/24); the table uses other months. The sources read do not explain why the values differ (OeNB, Statistiken H1/23; OeNB, Statistiken H1/24).
Evidence. OeNB, loan rates, new business; OeNB, handout of 20 March 2026; OeNB, Statistiken H1/24; OeNB, Statistiken H1/23, whole issue; OeNB, Statistiken Q3/22; OeNB, Statistiken Q1/22; OeNB, Statistiken Q2/21. The full references are in the sources block below.
Loan size for an instalment and duration at an instalment
Here you set the monthly instalment you have in mind. The first line shows how much you can borrow with it at the rate and term of the loan calculator, the second how long repaying your loan takes with this instalment. Whether an instalment fits your income is worked out in the “Buying” tab.
The rate is not everything
A low borrowing rate alone does not make an offer cheap, says the Chamber of Labour (AK Vienna, mortgage comparison, August 2020): fees change the total cost. Set three offers with rate and fees side by side here; amount, term and monthly rate come from the loan calculator above. The defaults are freely chosen examples that follow the rates above; they are not offers of the banks named. By law, the effective annual rate includes further costs known to the bank besides the interest (Mortgage and Real Estate Credit Act, HIKrG); here these are processing, valuation and account fees.
Evidence. AK Vienna, mortgage comparison, August 2020; Mortgage and Real Estate Credit Act, HIKrG. The full references are in the sources block below.
What the model does, what it leaves out, and recalculations against published examples
| Assumption | What it means |
|---|---|
| Annuity | The instalment stays the same over the whole term and is paid at the end of the month. The interest of a month is the monthly rate times the debt at the start of the month. The formula: instalment = loan × i ÷ (1 − (1 + i)−n), with the monthly rate i and n months. In spreadsheets the function is called PMT. |
| Monthly rate | Default: annual rate divided by 12. Alternatively the equivalent monthly rate at which twelve months give exactly the annual rate. The OeNB names no method in its example; with “one twelfth” the check below matches the instalments quoted better. |
| Rate change | A single change after the time chosen; afterwards the new rate applies to the end. With “term stays” the instalment is recalculated for the remaining term, with “instalment stays” the instalment stays and the term changes. Ongoing adjustments of a variable rate are not modelled. |
| Extra repayments | They come on top of the instalment at the end of the month (monthly) or at the end of every twelfth month (yearly), lower the debt at once and are capped by the remaining debt. Charges of the bank for them are not included. |
| Fees and effective rate | Processing (percent of the loan) and valuation fee arise at the start, the account fee every quarter. The effective annual rate is the rate at which the present value of all payments equals the amount paid out (loan minus one-off costs); it is shown only without rate change and extra repayments. |
| Not included | Registration of the lien (1.2% of the lien), insurance, notary, foreign currency, building-society contracts, repayment vehicles and tax effects. Whether banks include the registration of the lien in the effective annual rate was not expressly confirmed in any source opened; the statute does not list it among the exceptions, the interpretation is open (Mortgage and Real Estate Credit Act, HIKrG). |
Check 1: the OeNB example. For a new loan of €250,000 over 25 years the OeNB gives an average instalment of about €960 at 1.18% and about €1,230 at 3.33% (January 2022 and January 2023; OeNB, Statistiken H1/23). With “one twelfth” and 300 instalments the calculator arrives at €962.69 and €1,228.88, with the equivalent monthly rate at €961.96 and €1,222.29. The OeNB does not name its method; the one-twelfth conversion fits better.
Check 2: the effective rate with fees. For €200,000, 25 years and a 3.5% borrowing rate the calculator gives an instalment of €1,001.25. The effective annual rate is 3.557% without fees (the effect of monthly compounding), 3.654% with 1% processing, 3.719% with a €345 valuation fee and a €15 account fee per quarter on top. With higher fees (2%, €600, €45 a quarter) it would be 3.928%. If the registration of the lien of €3,120 were included as well (1.2% of 130% of the loan), the values would rise to 3.874% and 4.087%. These are our own calculations with fee ranges from surveys by the Chamber of Labour (AK Vienna, mortgage comparison, August 2019; AK, press release of 11 July 2023; AK, checklist of housing finance costs), not bank figures.
Check 3: a bank example. For €200,000, 20 years and a 4.91% borrowing rate, bank99 gives an instalment of €1,317.97 and an effective annual rate of 5.3559% (as of 1 May 2026; bank99, housing loan). Without fees the calculator arrives at an instalment of €1,309.99 (€7.98 less) and an effective annual rate of 5.022%. The page does not say which costs make up the difference. Bank examples therefore contain costs that a plain annuity calculator does not know.
Check 4: borrowing rate against effective rate on average. For August 2026 the OeNB statistics give an average borrowing rate of 3.61% and an effective rate of 3.97%, a gap of 0.36 pp (OeNB, loan rates, new business). At 3.61% the calculator arrives at 3.67% through monthly compounding alone (plus 0.06 pp), and with the example fees (€250,000, 25 years) at 3.82% (plus 0.21 pp). Which costs and terms the statistics include was not checked; the gap in the statistics is larger than the one with the example fees.
Evidence. OeNB, Statistiken H1/23; OeNB, loan rates, new business; bank99, housing loan; AK Vienna, mortgage comparison, August 2019; AK, press release of 11 July 2023; AK, checklist of housing finance costs; Mortgage and Real Estate Credit Act, HIKrG. The full references are in the sources block below.
What does a flat really cost, how much own funds does it take, and does the instalment fit the income? The buying calculator works out the purchase price from the area and the price per square metre, adds the ancillary costs under Austrian law (real estate transfer tax, land register fees, contract, broker), determines loan, own funds and instalment and sets the instalment against the income. In addition there are a rate shock, the highest price that income and own funds can carry, and a look at how own funds and interest costs shift against each other. Prices, incomes and rates you can tap are statistics or offers with a date and a source (as of 7 October 2026); you can overwrite every value. The result is a calculation under assumptions and neither a recommendation to buy nor a promise of a loan nor investment advice.
Purchase price, loan, own funds, instalment and ratio to income
How it is calculated. The purchase price is floor area times price per m²; you can also enter it directly, and the price per m² then changes. The ancillary costs are added to the purchase price (card “Ancillary costs”). The loan is a part of the purchase price or follows from your own funds; in the mode “Loan as % of the price” it covers at most the purchase price, and the ancillary costs come from the own funds. Own funds are therefore purchase price plus ancillary costs minus loan. The instalment is an annuity as in the “Loan” tab, with the same interest rate. The debt service ratio is the instalment (plus other loan instalments) divided by the household’s net income.
How to read this. The prices per m² on the buttons are medians of actual purchases (Statistics Austria) and asking prices from listings (ImmoScout24, reproduced by two media) (Statistics Austria, average property prices 2025; ImmoScout24, condominium data analysis; news.at, property prices in H1 2026; leadersnet.at, prices and supply in H1 2026). Asking prices are far above purchase prices: in 2025 the asking price was 1.45 times the purchase-price median in Austria and 1.27 times in Vienna (our calculation; the populations differ, because listings contain a lot of new building and good locations, the purchase prices all purchases by private households). A median says nothing about what a particular flat costs. The incomes, too, are medians of all households or of all employees and not those of the people who actually buy (Statistics Austria, household income, EU-SILC 2025; Statistics Austria, monthly income). The median purchase price of a 70 m² flat equals 5.7 times (Austria) or 7.1 times (Vienna) the median annual net income of households (our calculation; the income applies to the whole of Austria, not to Vienna). The calculation uses 70 m²; ImmoScout24 also uses 70 m² as its reference, and the average main-residence rental flat has 68.6 m² (ImmoScout24, condominium data analysis; Statistics Austria, press conference Housing 2025). Interest rates and conversion are the same as in the “Loan” tab: a change here applies there as well.
Evidence. Statistics Austria, average property prices 2025; ImmoScout24, condominium data analysis; news.at, property prices in H1 2026; leadersnet.at, prices and supply in H1 2026; Statistics Austria, household income, EU-SILC 2025; Statistics Austria, monthly income; Statistics Austria, press conference Housing 2025; FMA, circular 02/2025; FMA, residential real estate loans. The full references are in the sources block below.
What comes on top of the purchase price, item by item
On top of the price of a flat come taxes, fees and charges. The table works out every item for the purchase above. Real estate transfer tax, registration fees and the filing fee are fixed by law; drawing up the contract and the broker are ranges or maximum rates, the bank fees example values. According to oesterreich.gv.at (Federal Ministry of Justice, pages dated 1 August 2026), the real estate transfer tax is as a rule 3.5% of the purchase price, the registration of the title in the land register 1.1% of the value of the right (for purchase contracts as a rule the purchase price), the filing fee €85 for the application and the registration of a lien (mortgage) 1.2% of the nominal amount of the claim including the security for ancillary charges. For drawing up the contract by a lawyer or notary the page gives about 1 to 3% of the purchase price, and for the broker’s commission maximum rates: from a purchase price of €48,448.52 three percent, plus 20% VAT (oesterreich.gv.at, ancillary costs of buying a flat; oesterreich.gv.at, registration).
What the calculator simplifies. The lien is calculated on the loan amount alone; the pages read do not say how large the surcharge for the security for ancillary charges is, so the amount is a lower bound. The filing fee is counted once. Not included are costs that no page read put a figure on: land register extract, certification, escrow, insurance. The English version of one page gives €81 for the filing fee, three German pages €85; €85 applies. Special cases such as transfers within the family have not been evaluated.
The fee waiver has expired. For a time, the registration of the title and of the lien was exempt from the registration fees when a home was acquired (sections 25a to 25c of the Court Fees Act). According to law-firm information this applied to purchase contracts after 31 March 2024 with a land register application between 1 July 2024 and 30 June 2026, up to €500,000 of the assessment basis, and had to be expressly applied for; according to a bank it expired on 30 June 2026 (Forvis Mazars Legal, fee waiver until 30 Jun 2026; Raiffeisen Vorarlberg, fee waiver ends on 30 June). We have not checked whether it was extended; the federal pages dated 1 August 2026 give the fees without any reference to a waiver, a hint but not proof. The calculator therefore works without the waiver. For the Vienna median flat (70 m², €364,840) with a 90% loan it would have saved about €7,954 (our calculation: 1.1% of the price plus 1.2% of the loan).
How to read this. All amounts are our own calculations with the rates of the legal position and your entries; they are not quotations and not information from a notary, lawyer, broker or bank. The share of the purchase price varies with price and loan, because the lien depends on the loan and the filing fee is a fixed amount. The second table shows how much room there is for the contract and the broker.
Evidence. oesterreich.gv.at, ancillary costs of buying a flat; oesterreich.gv.at, registration; oesterreich.gv.at, buying a flat; Forvis Mazars Legal, fee waiver until 30 Jun 2026; Raiffeisen Vorarlberg, fee waiver ends on 30 June. The full references are in the sources block below.
How the loan-to-value shifts own funds, instalment and interest
More own funds mean a smaller loan, a lower instalment and less interest. The chart works out the purchase above at loan-to-value ratios from 100% to 50%: how much own funds are needed and how much interest is paid over the term. Drag the cursor or let the run play. The two marks show two rules: until 30 June 2025 the KIM Regulation required at least 20% own funds (which equals a loan-to-value of 80% if it is related to the purchase price); since the circular of 26 June 2025 the FMA gives as a guideline a loan-to-value of at most 90%. The KIM Regulation was binding, the circular is by its own statement not a regulation (ORF.at, KIM Regulation, December 2024; FMA, residential real estate loans; FMA, circular 02/2025).
How to read this. The chart compares euro amounts without time value: own funds are needed today, interest is spread over the term. Whoever uses own funds gives up their other use, and interest is, depending on tax and investment, not directly comparable with returns; the chart therefore does not say which loan-to-value is cheaper. The “Buy or rent” tab includes the return on own funds. What the loan-to-value refers to (purchase price, purchase price plus ancillary costs, or collateral value) is not stated in the short versions read; here it is the purchase price.
Evidence. ORF.at, KIM Regulation, December 2024; FMA, residential real estate loans; FMA, circular 02/2025. The full references are in the sources block below.
What happens to the instalment when the rate rises
A instalment that fits today may no longer fit at a higher rate if the rate is variable or the fixed-rate period ends. The table works out instalment and debt service ratio at rates up to 4 pp above today’s; the chart shows the ratio for all rates, the dashed line is your limit, and the sentence below names the rate at which the instalment reaches it. For scale: according to the OeNB the average rate on new housing loans rose from 1.18% (January 2022) to 3.33% (January 2023) and was highest in November 2023 at 4.34%; in August 2026 it was 3.61% (OeNB, Statistiken H1/23; OeNB, loan rates, new business). On loans with a variable rate such a rise arrives in the instalment: the rate on the stock of variable-rate housing loans rose from 1.10% (June 2022) to as much as 4.86% (March 2024) (OeNB, Statistiken H2/24).
How to read this. The debt service ratio here is the sum of the instalments divided by the household’s net income. For orientation: the median housing cost ratio (housing costs including energy, loan costs and maintenance) was 15% of disposable household income in 2025, 12% for owner-occupied flats; for 8% of households the housing cost ratio was above 40% (Statistics Austria, press conference Housing 2025). This is a different measure from the debt service ratio and is meant only as an order of magnitude. The rate shock jumps at once by the value set; an adjustment of term or instalment by the bank is not modelled.
Evidence. OeNB, Statistiken H1/23; OeNB, loan rates, new business; OeNB, Statistiken H2/24; Statistics Austria, press conference Housing 2025. The full references are in the sources block below.
The highest price that income and own funds carry at the same time
Asked the other way round: what purchase price can income and own funds carry? Two limits apply at the same time. The instalment must not exceed your limit for the debt service ratio; this gives the highest loan the income can carry. And the loan must not exceed the loan-to-value; with your own funds this gives a second highest loan. The smaller of the two applies. The highest price is then own funds plus loan minus the ancillary costs, which themselves depend on the price; the calculator solves this. Income, term, interest rate, ancillary costs and limit come from the buying calculator above.
How to read this. The highest price is no recommendation and no promise by a bank. Banks check creditworthiness, collateral and other expenses that are missing here (living costs, children, reserves, maintenance, running costs). It only shows where the two rules of calculation end for the values entered. The loan-to-value of 90% and the debt service ratio of 40% are guidelines of the FMA and not a regulation (FMA, circular 02/2025; FMA, residential real estate loans).
Evidence. FMA, circular 02/2025; FMA, residential real estate loans; oesterreich.gv.at, ancillary costs of buying a flat. The full references are in the sources block below.
What the model does, what it leaves out, and recalculations
| Assumption | What it means |
|---|---|
| Purchase price | Floor area times price per m². The medians are prices of actual purchases in 2025 (condominiums), the asking prices come from listings; a median describes the middle of all purchases, not a single flat. |
| Loan and own funds | Loan = loan-to-value times purchase price. Own funds = purchase price plus ancillary costs minus loan. If you set the own funds, loan = (purchase price times (1 + rates on the price) + fixed amounts − own funds) divided by (1 − rates on the loan); rates on the price are real estate transfer tax, registration, contract and broker, rates on the loan lien and processing. |
| Ancillary costs | Rates of the legal position according to oesterreich.gv.at, lien calculated on the loan alone (lower bound), filing fee once, contract and broker as entered, bank fees as example values. No waiver of registration fees. Not included: land register extract, certification, escrow, insurance, special cases. |
| Instalment | Annuity, paid in arrears, as in the “Loan” tab; interest rate and conversion come from there. The account fee is not included in the instalment. |
| Debt service ratio | (Instalment plus other loan instalments) divided by the household’s net income per month. The FMA guideline names 40% of annual net income; whether and how your bank includes other expenses is open. |
| Rate shock | The rate jumps at once by the value set, the debt and the term stay the same; the instalment is recalculated for the full loan and the full term (this corresponds to the first year after the jump, not to a later point). |
| Highest price | Highest loan by income = present value of the instalments that the limit still allows (instalment times annuity factor). Highest loan by own funds = loan-to-value times price, where the price follows from own funds, loan and ancillary costs. Highest price = (own funds + loan times (1 − rates on the loan) − fixed amounts) divided by (1 + rates on the price). |
| Not included | Running costs, maintenance, reserves, property tax, subsidies, building-society contracts, repayment vehicles, foreign currency, tax effects, the value development of the flat and the return on own funds (the “Buy or rent” tab calculates that). |
Check 1: ancillary costs. The table shows what the calculator gives with bank fees of 0 and without the lien for the four cases: real estate transfer tax 3.5%, registration 1.1%, filing fee €85, contract 1 and 3%, broker 0 and 3.6%. These are our own calculations with the rates from the sources, not figures of an authority. The hand calculation for the Vienna median flat: 3.5% and 1.1% of €364,840 are €16,782.64, plus €85 and 1% for the contract (€3,648.40): €20,516.04.
| Case (70 m²) | Purchase price | no broker, contract 1 to 3% | with broker 3.6%, contract 1 to 3% |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vienna, median purchase price 2025 | €364,840 | €20,516 to €27,813 | €33,650 to €40,947 |
| Austria, median purchase price 2025 | €291,340 | €16,400 to €22,227 | €26,888 to €32,715 |
| Vienna, asking price H1 2026 | €471,030 | €26,463 to €35,883 | €43,420 to €52,840 |
| Austria, asking price H1 2026 | €437,360 | €24,577 to €33,324 | €40,322 to €49,069 |
Check 2: own funds. For the Vienna median flat (€364,840) with a 90% loan (€328,356) and bank fees of 0 the calculator arrives at own funds of €60,940 (contract 1%, no broker), €74,075 (contract 1%, with broker) and €81,371 (contract 3%, with broker). Included is the lien with €3,940 (1.2% of the loan). With the default bank fees (1% processing, €345 valuation) the own funds rise by 1% of the loan plus €345.
Check 3: instalment and ratio. For the same loan (€328,356) at 3.61%, 35 years and the conversion “one twelfth” the instalment is €1,378.07 a month; against the median household income of €51,152 a year that is 32.3% (twelve instalments divided by the annual income). At the asking price of the Vienna flat (€471,030, loan €423,927) it is €1,779.18 and 41.7%, that is above the FMA guideline of 40%. The guideline and the income come from the sources named (FMA, circular 02/2025; Statistics Austria, household income, EU-SILC 2025), the instalments are our own calculations.
Check 4: reversal. If you enter the amount from check 2 in the “Own funds” mode, the calculator returns to the same loan and the same loan-to-value. The calculator thus checks itself: own funds and loan depend on each other through the ancillary costs, and the reversal has to hit the starting values.
How to read this. The table says what the model does and leaves out; it is not a statement about what applies in your case. The checks are recalculations with the figures from the sources named: anyone who follows them with a pocket calculator should arrive at the same amounts (rounded to whole euros in the tables). That the calculator agrees with itself only shows that it calculates as described, not that the assumptions hit reality.
Evidence. oesterreich.gv.at, ancillary costs of buying a flat; oesterreich.gv.at, registration; FMA, circular 02/2025; Statistics Austria, household income, EU-SILC 2025. The full references are in the sources block below.
Buy or rent? The comparison works out two households side by side. One buys the flat from the “Buying” tab with a loan, the other rents a flat of the same size and invests the money that the buyer puts into the flat: at the start the own funds including ancillary costs, afterwards every month the difference between the two monthly outflows. At the end the flat is sold and the two net worths are compared. The result depends on three quantities that nobody knows for certain: the growth in the flat’s value, the rent increase and the return on the invested money. The tab therefore shows not only one result but also the values at which the two would be level. We did not find an Austrian study that works through buying and renting for owner-occupation with open assumptions (card “What studies say”). The result is a calculation under assumptions and neither a recommendation to buy or to rent nor investment advice.
Two households, one comparison of net worth
How it is calculated. Both households live in a flat of the same size. The buyer pays the instalment every month (an annuity as in the “Loan” and “Buying” tabs, with the interest rate set there) and the upkeep; the tenant pays the net rent, which rises once a year. Whichever of the two pays less in a month invests the difference at the net return set. The tenant starts with the money that the buyer puts in as own funds including ancillary costs. At the end, the buyer’s net worth is the value of the flat after selling costs minus the remaining debt plus what he or she has invested; the tenant’s is the investment. Both pay the operating costs equally, so they are not part of the calculation. Break-even is the first month from which the buyer’s net worth stays at or above the tenant’s until the end.
How to read this. The model compares a net worth that fluctuates with one that does not: the value of a flat can rise or fall, a fixed deposit pays the agreed interest. But it works with fixed values and does not show the fluctuation. Anyone who sets the growth in value to 0% or extends the years 2022 to 2025 (median −1.6% per year) sees how quickly the result tips over. The default for growth in value and rent increase is the inflation of 2015 to 2025 (3.3% per year, our calculation from the annual rates of Statistics Austria): the flat then keeps its value in real terms. That is an assumption and not a forecast. In the years 2015 to 2025 the median price per square metre rose by 4.2% per year in Austria and by 4.6% in Vienna (our calculations from Statistics Austria, average property prices 2025).
The net rents are microcensus values (rents actually paid, new contracts 2025) or asking rents from listings from which operating costs of €2.7 per m² have been deducted; that is an approximation with an Austrian figure (Statistics Austria, housing situation and housing costs 2025, press release; Statistics Austria, flat rents Q2 2026; ImmoScout24, rents Q1 2026). The rent of a particular flat can differ considerably; asking rents are far above the rents of existing contracts (Austria: €16.09 against €10.5 per m² including operating costs, both Q1 2026; different populations).
The interest rate of the loan stays the same over the whole term. With a variable rate or after the end of a fixed-rate period the instalment can rise; that is shown by the rate shock in the “Buying” tab and not by this comparison. Taxes on a gain from the sale (real estate gains tax) and property tax are not taken into account and have not been checked.
Evidence. Statistics Austria, housing situation and housing costs 2025, press release; Statistics Austria, flat rents Q2 2026; ImmoScout24, rents Q1 2026; Statistics Austria, press conference Housing 2025; Statistics Austria, press conference Housing 2023; Statistics Austria, average property prices 2025; Statistics Austria, house price index 2025; Statistics Austria, house price index H1 2026; Statistics Austria, inflation August 2026; Statistics Austria, inflation 2025; Statistics Austria, inflation 2024; forum-media.at, Rent Indexation Act section 1; Parliament, committee report on the 5th MILG; sparzinsen.at; Federal Ministry of Finance, taxation of domestic investment income; Income Tax Act 1988, section 27a. The full references are in the sources block below.
Cash flow and economic cost, side by side
The chart shows what is paid every month: when buying, instalment and upkeep; when renting, the net rent, which rises once a year. The instalment stays the same as long as the loan runs; the upkeep follows the value of the flat. After the last instalment only the upkeep remains.
Economic cost instead of cash flow. Anyone asking what owning costs economically in a year does not compare the instalment with the rent. In their papers the central banks count among the costs of owning the interest on the loan and the foregone interest on the equity put in (“foregone interest on the housing asset”), upkeep including economic depreciation and a recurrent property tax, and they deduct the expected growth in value; this gives the user cost, which is compared with a rent (ECB, Working Paper 2087, Fatica and Prammer 2017; ECB, Statistics Paper 47). Repayment is not part of it because it reduces the debt and builds net worth. The table works out the items for the first year with your settings, simplified: interest on the loan at the start, upkeep without separate depreciation, no property tax. The totals are formed from unrounded values and can therefore differ by €1 from the sum of the rounded items. The equations of the papers are not adopted because two readings of the equations differed from each other.
Where the money goes. The totals over the whole period, nominal and without interest. The line “Spending that builds no net worth” adds up, for the buyer, interest, upkeep, ancillary costs and selling costs, and for the tenant the rent. Repayment is not part of it: it reduces the debt. The lines “Paid into the investment” and “Earnings of the investment” show what both households invested and earned on it.
How to read this. Cash flow and economic cost are two views of the same flat. The cash flow shows what leaves the account month by month; the user cost shows what owning costs economically in a year if the growth in value occurs. But growth in value is not a cash flow and may fail to appear while interest and upkeep are due. The totals are bookkeeping without the time value of money and without risk; who comes out better is shown only by the comparison of net worth in the card above. Net rents and operating costs come from the microcensus surveys of Statistics Austria (Statistics Austria, flat rents Q2 2026; Statistics Austria, housing situation and housing costs 2025, press release).
Evidence. ECB, Working Paper 2087, Fatica and Prammer 2017; ECB, Statistics Paper 47; Statistics Austria, flat rents Q2 2026; Statistics Austria, housing situation and housing costs 2025, press release. The full references are in the sources block below.
Break-even and sensitivity
Instead of giving only one result, the calculator looks for each assumption for the value at which buying and renting would be level at the end, while everything else stays as set. That shows how far an assumption could be off before the result tips over. A break-even is not a verdict: it says which values would be needed and not whether they occur.
The chart shows the difference at the end of the period for each growth in value. Above the zero line buying is ahead, below it renting; where the line crosses the zero line the two are level. With “Sweep the growth in value” the cursor moves from left to right.
The colour grid combines the growth in value (rows) with a second quantity (columns, switchable): the period, the return on the invested money or the rent increase. Each number is the difference between buying and renting at the end, in thousand euro.
How to read this. The break-even values are results of this model and not market quantities. If no break-even can be found for a quantity, it means that the same side is always ahead in the range checked. The model has no spread; a break-even at 1.7% growth in value does not say that 1.7% is probable, nor that less would be excluded. The buttons in the calculator help to put the values in context: the median price per square metre rose by 4.2% per year from 2015 to 2025 and fell by 1.6% per year from 2022 to 2025 (our calculations from Statistics Austria, average property prices 2025); the house price index rose by 5.3% per year from 2015 to 2025 (Statistics Austria, house price index 2025). Inflation was 3.3% per year from 2015 to 2025 and 3.2% in August 2026 (Statistics Austria, inflation August 2026).
Evidence. Statistics Austria, average property prices 2025; Statistics Austria, house price index 2025; Statistics Austria, house price index H1 2026; Statistics Austria, press conference Housing 2025; Statistics Austria, press conference Housing 2023; Statistics Austria, inflation August 2026. The full references are in the sources block below.
Neighbouring topics, method and long-run returns
We did not find an Austrian study on buying or renting. We looked for studies or calculators by the Chamber of Labour, the Oesterreichische Nationalbank, the Momentum Institute, Agenda Austria and universities that compare buying and renting for owner-occupation with open assumptions and a result. What was found were works on neighbouring topics; the table says what they show and what they do not. That does not mean that no such study exists, only that we did not open one.
| Source | What it is about | What it shows | What it does not show |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chamber of Labour, investing in a buy-to-let flat (2018) | Buying a flat to let, examples in Vienna | Assumptions: 50 to 60 m², purchase prices €217,850 to €256,200 net, ancillary costs about 6%, 20 years, growth in value 1.8%. Result: rental yield without costs 3.4 to 3.9%, after costs 1.6 to 3.7%. | No comparison with living in the flat yourself; four providers of investor flats in Vienna, surveyed in July and August 2017. |
| WU Vienna, housing costs in Austria (2020) | Distribution of housing costs, EU-SILC 2017 data | According to the retrieval, tenants paid €646 a month (22.4% of income), home owners €448 (10.1%); the figures come from one query and have not been checked twice. | Repayments do not count as housing costs, imputed rents are missing; a cross-section comparison of the cost burden and not a calculation for a decision to buy. |
| Momentum Institute, acquiring property (2024) | Affordability of buying | According to the page it takes 54 instead of 41 years of saving (assumptions according to the retrieval: 9.5% of disposable income saved, 2% interest, median household income). | No comparison with renting. |
| Agenda Austria, where buying property pays off (2018) | Gross yields for landlords | Vienna 2.8%, Graz 3.1% (data source Deloitte: rents per m² against purchase prices per m²). | No comparison of buying and renting; as of 2018. |
| ECB, Working Paper 2087 (2017) and Statistics Paper 47 (2024) | Method: user cost of housing | Items: financing costs (loan interest and foregone interest on equity), upkeep and economic depreciation, recurrent property tax, minus the expected appreciation. | A general method model for the euro area without Austrian values; the equations of the papers are not adopted here. |
| Jordà et al., The Rate of Return on Everything (2019) | Returns from 1870 to 2015 in 16 countries | Real total returns on housing and equities about 7% per year on average (arithmetic mean), those on housing with less fluctuation. Total return means rental income and price change together. | Austria is not one of the 16 countries; whether the returns apply before or after costs and taxes has not been checked; not a forecast. |
How to read this. The table refutes nothing in the model and confirms nothing: the works measure other things (returns for landlords, cost burden, affordability, method). They supply orders of magnitude for the settings, for example gross rental yields of 2.8 to 3.9% in 2018 against the 2.8% of the default (our calculation: net rent €9.70 per m² against the median price of €4,162 per m²). The long-run return of about 7% in real terms comes from 16 other countries and is not a forecast for Austria. Whoever knows a study that works through buying and renting in Austria can have it added to the sources.
Evidence. AK, investment in provident flats, 2018; WU Vienna, housing costs in Austria, 2020; Momentum Institute, home ownership, 2024; Agenda Austria, property purchase and letting, 2018; ECB, Working Paper 2087, Fatica and Prammer 2017; ECB, Statistics Paper 47; Jordà et al. 2019; Jordà et al. 2017, FRBSF version; FRBSF blog on Jordà et al. The full references are in the sources block below.
What the model does, what it leaves out, and recalculations
| Assumption | What it means |
|---|---|
| Purchase | From the “Buying” tab: purchase price, loan, ancillary costs, interest rate, conversion and term. The one-off ancillary costs are part of the money that both sides put in at the start. The interest rate stays the same over the term; after the last instalment there is no instalment any more. |
| Rent | Net rent without operating costs, constant in the first year, then raised once a year by the percentage set. Operating costs are equal on both sides and left out; heating, electricity and garage are not part of the calculation. |
| Value and upkeep | The value grows by the same factor every month, so that after a year it is higher by the percentage set. The upkeep of a month is its percentage of the value at the beginning of the month, divided by 12. The example value of 1.0% comes from no source. |
| Investment | Whoever pays less in a month invests the difference at the end of the month. Interest is earned at the monthly equivalent of the net return, (1 + return)^(1/12) − 1. The money is available at any time; there are no fees and no fluctuation. The default of 2.25% is the best 12-month fixed deposit (3.00%) after 25% capital gains tax. |
| Net worth at the end | Buyer: value × (1 − selling costs) − remaining debt + investment. Tenant: investment. The purchase is treated as a sale at the end of the period; whoever goes on living in the flat does not hold the value in hand. |
| Not included | Tax on a gain from the sale, property tax, subsidies and housing allowance, interest changes after a fixed-rate period, vacancy and moving costs, changes in the family, the possibility of letting the flat, fluctuation of the value and of the return, as well as the value that the security of one’s own flat or the freedom of the tenant has for the individual. |
Check 1: the first year. With the defaults (70 m² at the 2025 median price of €4,162 per m², that is €291,340; 90% loan, €262,206 at 3.61% over 30 years; ancillary costs €35,915; net rent €9.70 times 70 = €679) the instalment is €1,193.58 a month and the upkeep in the first month €242.78 (1% of €291,340 divided by 12); together €1,436.36 against the rent of €679. The user cost of the first year is €788.80 interest plus €121.97 foregone return on €65,049 plus €242.78 upkeep minus €801.18 growth in value, together €352.37 a month (our calculation, which can be checked with a pocket calculator; the amounts are rounded to the cent and the total is formed from the unrounded values).
Check 2: the final position after 20 years. With the same settings the monthly series gives a net worth of the buyer of €417,554 and of the tenant of €285,287, that is a difference of €132,267 in favour of buying; break-even in month 105, that is after 8 years and 9 months. This can be checked in a spreadsheet with one row per month: value = value × 1.033^(1/12); remaining debt = remaining debt × (1 + 0.0361/12) − instalment; tenant’s investment = investment × 1.0225^(1/12) + (instalment + upkeep − rent), as long as that is positive; the rent rises by 3.3% after every 12 months. The result follows from the defaults (growth in value and rent increase equal to inflation, safely invested money at 2.25%, a loan of 90% of the price) and is no statement about the market.
Check 3: the break-even value. For the defaults the calculator gives a break-even in growth in value of 1.66% per year. If you set 1.6%, renting is ahead by €4,151; at 1.7% buying is ahead by €2,692: the sign changes between the two values that can be set, as it must for a break-even at 1.66%.
Check 4: a cash purchase as a special case. Without a loan, growth in value, rent increase, return, upkeep and selling costs the buyer pays nothing per month and the tenant pays the rent of €679. The tenant keeps the money (purchase price plus ancillary costs), the buyer has the flat and saves the rent. Break-even arises when the rents saved cover the one-off ancillary costs: €29,801.68 divided by €679 is 43.9 months, so month 44; after 20 years buying is ahead by 240 times €679 minus €29,801.68 = €133,158.32. This check can be reproduced in the calculator (loan 0%, all values in the calculator at 0) and shows that in a case that can be worked out in the head the model gives the expected result.
How to read this. The table says what the model does and leaves out; it says nothing about what applies in your case. The checks are recalculations with figures from the sources named and with assumptions that are stated on the page. All amounts are our own calculations and not information from a bank, a broker or a tax adviser.
Evidence. Statistics Austria, average property prices 2025; Statistics Austria, housing situation and housing costs 2025, press release; Statistics Austria, flat rents Q2 2026; sparzinsen.at; Federal Ministry of Finance, taxation of domestic investment income. The full references are in the sources block below.
Interest rates and the market: here are the figures on which the calculators and the barometer are based: the ECB policy rate and Euribor (for loans with a variable rate, according to the AK Vienna, usually the reference rate to which the bank adds a margin; AK Vienna, loan guide, as of March 2026), the OeNB interest rate statistics, which show what new housing loans in Austria actually cost on average, and offers from individual banks, which show what is advertised. In addition there are prices, rents and inflation since 2015 and the number of loans, purchases and building permits. Every figure has a date and a source; measurements, offers and our own calculations are marked. None of it is a forecast, and none of it is a recommendation.
Measurements with dates, side by side
Ten key figures, each with the latest value we found. All of them are measurements by the body named. The comparison value underneath is, where given, also a measurement or our own calculation from measurements. What follows from them is dealt with by the “Barometer” tab, not by this overview.
How to read this. The tiles mix interest rates (per cent per year), prices (euro per square metre or index points), quantities (dwellings, billions of euro) and an inflation rate. They are not netted against each other and do not share a reference date: Euribor is a daily value, the OeNB rates are monthly values, the prices annual or half-year values.
The rates of change “on a year earlier” are stated by the source itself. They are calculated from unrounded values; the rounded values on the tiles alone would give slightly different rates (rents: 10.5 against 10.2 euro would be +2.9%). The house price index and the rents are statistics on purchases and existing tenancies; they say nothing about the prices asked today.
Evidence. ECB, key interest rates; ECB, press release of 10 September 2026; Euribor portal euribor-rates.eu; OeNB, loan rates, new business; OeNB, loan rates, outstanding amounts; Statistics Austria, average property prices 2025; Statistics Austria, house price index H1 2026; Statistics Austria, flat rents Q2 2026; Statistics Austria, inflation August 2026; Statistics Austria, inflation September 2026, flash estimate; Statistics Austria, house price index 2025; OeNB, handout of 20 March 2026; Infina, property price guide; Infina, volume of new housing loans; Statistics Austria, building permits 2025. The full references are in the sources block below.
ECB deposit rate, Euribor and rates on new housing loans
The chart overlays three interest rates. The ECB deposit rate is the rate that banks receive for money they place with the central bank; according to the ECB it has steered its monetary policy stance since March 2024. Euribor is a reference rate for money that banks in the euro area lend each other, here for 3 and for 12 months. Loans with a variable rate are often tied to it; in the examples of bank99 and BAWAG it is the 3-month Euribor plus a margin. The diamonds are the average interest rate on new housing loans in Austria according to the OeNB, for the months for which we found a value.
The ECB raised the deposit rate in ten steps from −0.50% to 4.00% between 27 July 2022 and 20 September 2023, cut it in eight steps to 2.00% between 12 June 2024 and 11 June 2025, and raised it twice in 2026 to 2.50% (effective 17 June and 16 September; it decided the second increase on 10 September). Inflation in the euro area was 3.3% in August 2026 according to the ECB, after 2.9% in July. The table below shows the rates at seven points in time.
| Point in time | ECB deposit rate on the date | Euribor 3 months | Euribor 12 months | New housing loans (OeNB) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| December 2021 | −0.50% | −0.572% | −0.505% | 1.23% |
| December 2022 | 1.50% | 1.972% | 2.842% | 3.32% |
| November 2023 | 4.00% | 3.953% | 4.044% | 4.34% |
| December 2024 | 3.25% | 2.924% | 2.431% | 3.51% |
| December 2025 | 2.00% | 2.060% | 2.227% | 3.39% |
| August 2026 | 2.25% | 2.461% | 2.939% | 3.61% |
| October 2026 | 2.50% | 2.589% | 3.303% | · |
Euribor: value on the first working day of the month (portal euribor-rates.eu), not a monthly average. Deposit rate: the rate in force on that day. OeNB: average of the housing loans newly agreed in that month; · means that there is no value for the month (the OeNB has published up to August 2026).
How to read this. The three rates measure different things. The deposit rate is a decision of the ECB and applies until it changes it. Euribor is a market rate that changes daily. The OeNB value is an average over all housing loans newly agreed in a month, weighted by the loan amount and across all fixation periods from variable to over ten years. We could not retrieve an official monthly average of Euribor; the values come from a portal and show the first working day of each month. The value in the card “The situation in ten figures” (3.177% on 6 Oct 2026) is below the October value in the chart and table (3.303% on 1 Oct 2026): between the two days the 12-month Euribor fell by 0.126 percentage points (our calculation).
The diamonds are single months that we found in publications of the OeNB and in its database (February, November and December 2021, January, June and December 2022, January and November 2023, January and December 2024, December 2025 and March to August 2026). Months are missing in between, so they are not joined. Two values are given differently by the OeNB in different issues (January 2022: 1.15% against 1.18%; January 2023: 3.49% against 3.33%); the chart shows the values of the later issue in each case. The peak of 4.34% in November 2023 was, according to the OeNB, a “preliminary peak” (state of the publication: spring 2024); by January 2024 the value had fallen to 4.14%.
For comparison: in the euro area the rates on housing loans were 3.5% in June and July 2026 according to the ECB, in Austria 3.54% according to the OeNB. The 12-month Euribor rose in spring 2026 before the ECB’s first increase (2.229% on 2 Mar 2026, 2.845% on 1 Apr 2026); we did not check why.
Evidence. ECB, key interest rates; ECB, press release of 10 September 2026; ECB, monetary policy statement of 10 September 2026; Euribor portal euribor-rates.eu; OeNB, loan rates, new business; OeNB, handout of 20 March 2026; OeNB, Statistiken H1/24; OeNB, Statistiken H1/23; OeNB, Statistiken H1/23, whole issue; OeNB, Statistiken Q3/22; OeNB, Statistiken Q1/22; OeNB, Statistiken Q2/21. The full references are in the sources block below.
Statistics, offers and examples for home loans and saving, marked separately
Two kinds of figures stand side by side here that should not be mixed. The OeNB statistics show what was actually agreed on average in August 2026 (3.61% for new housing loans). The other rows are offers and examples: best values from comparison sites, “from” rates and worked examples from individual banks. They show what is advertised and not what you will get: the rate depends on creditworthiness, own funds, loan amount, term, fixation period and further conditions. With “Use” you set a rate as the interest rate in the tabs Loan, Buying and Buy or rent.
| Provider | What the rate is | Rate | As of | Position on the scale 2.5% to 5.5% | Use in the calculators |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OeNB | Statistics: new housing loans, average across all fixation periods | 3.61% | Aug 2026 | ||
| OeNB | Statistics: all outstanding housing loans (stock), average | 2.87% | Aug 2026 | ||
| durchblicker.at | Best value on a portal, variable, for suitable creditworthiness; the bank is not named | 3.24% | Oct 2026 | ||
| durchblicker.at | Best value on a portal, fixed for 25 years | 3.38% | Oct 2026 | ||
| Hypo Tirol | Offer WohnRaum-Kredit: fixed for 10 years, only with a current account that carries fees, while stocks last; then variable (3-month Euribor plus a margin, amount not stated) | 3.50% | undated | ||
| Bank Austria | Advertised WohnKredit: fixed-rate offer from this rate, higher or lower depending on creditworthiness; length of the fixed period not stated | 3.55% | 10 Sep 2026 | ||
| Bank Austria | Worked example, variable (€200,000, 25 years) | 3.625% | 10 Sep 2026 | ||
| BAWAG | Worked example in the product information sheet, variable (€260,000, 360 months, effective annual rate 4.1%) | 3.95% | 22 Sep 2025, over a year old | ||
| bank99 | Worked example wohnkredit99, variable (€200,000, 20 years, effective annual rate 5.3559%) | 4.91% | 1 May 2026 |
| Survey by the Vienna Chamber of Labour | Variable rates, range across banks | Fixed for 20 years, range across banks |
|---|---|---|
| July 2019, 6 banks in Vienna | 0.875% to 1.414% | · |
| May to June 2023, 9 banks in Vienna | 4.125% to 5.005% | 3.65% to 4.255% |
| November to December 2024, 9 banks and 4 building societies in Vienna | 3.763% to 4.50% (median 4.36%) | 3.15% to 3.875% (median 3.45%) |
The Chamber of Labour asked the banks by e-mail for terms for an example of €200,000 over 25 years. It gives the ranges for customers with adequate creditworthiness (2019 and 2024); for 2023 the creditworthiness is not in the text we read. · means: not stated or not read.
| Provider | What the rate is | Rate | As of |
|---|---|---|---|
| OeNB | Statistics: new deposits of households with an agreed term of up to 1 year, average; of which savings deposits 2.10% | 2.15% | Aug 2026 |
| OeNB | Statistics: overnight deposits (stock), average; of which savings deposits 0.70% | 0.45% | Aug 2026 |
| sparzinsen.at | Best value on a portal: fixed deposit 12 months, offer with simplified tax handling (Raiffeisenbank Mödling and VakifBank); average of all 65 offers on the portal 2.34% | 3.00% | 7 Oct 2026 |
| bank99 | Offer fixsparen99: fixed deposit 12 months, from €5,000, reference account at bank99 | 2.75% | undated |
| Hypo Tirol | Offer Online Festgeld: 12 months | 2.00% | undated |
| bank99 | Offer flexsparen99, available daily, new customers only: 2.75% for 3 months, then 0.50% (base rate 0.01% plus a voluntary bonus of 0.49% until 31 Oct 2026) | 2.75%, then 0.50% | undated |
| DADAT Bank | Offer overnight money, new customers only: 3.10% for 3 months, then 1.60% according to sparzinsen.at (6 Oct 2026) and 2.00% according to capitalo.at (1 Oct 2026) | 3.10%, then 1.60% or 2.00% | 1 and 6 Oct 2026 |
All savings rates are gross rates before capital gains tax (see the “Saving” tab). Promotional rates apply to new customers only and, here, for three months.
How to read this. The gap between statistics and offers is the core of this card. The most favourable figures (3.24% to 3.55%: best values on portals and “from” offers) lie below the average of the statistics (3.61%), the worked examples (3.625% to 4.91%) above it. Best values apply to customers with the best creditworthiness and high own funds; examples contain the bank’s assumptions on costs and creditworthiness. A personal offer is not based on any of these rows. In all three surveys by the Chamber of Labour the most expensive and the cheapest bank were 0.5 to 0.9 percentage points apart (our calculation from the ranges).
The selection consists of the pages we could open and on which a figure appeared. It is not an overview of the market and not a recommendation of any bank. On the pages we opened for Erste Bank and Sparkassen, Raiffeisen and Hypo Vorarlberg there is no interest figure; there the rate is given in a consultation, through a calculator or on a notice. The bank99 row is five months old, the BAWAG row over a year. For one bank the portals differ on the rate after the promotion (DADAT: 1.60% against 2.00%); we give both because we could not check the bank’s page.
Evidence. OeNB, loan rates, new business; OeNB, loan rates, outstanding amounts; durchblicker.at, loan rates; Bank Austria, housing loan; Hypo Tirol, housing loan; BAWAG, product information sheet; bank99, housing loan; Erste Bank and Sparkassen, s Wohnkredit; Raiffeisen, housing loan; Hypo Vorarlberg, housing finance; AK Vienna, mortgage comparison, August 2019; AK, press release of 11 July 2023; AK Vienna, mortgage comparison, January 2025; OeNB, deposit rates, new business; sparzinsen.at; bank99, fixsparen99; bank99, flexsparen99; Hypo Tirol, online fixed deposit; capitalo.at. The full references are in the sources block below.
What new loans cost by fixation period, and what is left after inflation
The fixation period says for how long the interest rate of a loan is initially fixed. The OeNB shows what new housing loans with different initial fixation periods cost on average; according to the footnote of the table the row “up to 1 year” also includes loans with a variable rate. The chart shows four points in time: the annual values for 2023, 2024 and 2025 (the page does not explain the annual columns; we read them as annual averages) and August 2026.
In 2023 the short fixation was the most expensive: loans with a fixation of up to 1 year (including variable ones) cost 1.02 pp more on average than loans with a fixation of over 10 years, in 2024 1.16 pp, in 2025 0.16 pp. In August 2026 the fixation of over 10 years is 0.02 pp above the fixation of up to 1 year (3.67% against 3.65%; our calculation). So the difference between short and long fixation has dissolved within three years; the statistics do not say why. This applies to the average of all new loans and says nothing about the offer you would get. According to the OeNB, 86% of the housing loans newly concluded in 2025 had a fixed period; in the stock, 64% were fixed-rate at the end of 2025. In July 2024, 40% of the stock still had a variable rate (€51.7 billion), in 2018 it was 73% (€80.7 billion).
The real interest rate is the interest rate minus inflation. It shows whether interest grows by more or less than prices in general. Here it is calculated looking backwards: the rate on new housing loans and the measured inflation of the same period, exactly as (1 + rate) divided by (1 + inflation) minus 1.
| Period | Rate on new housing loans (OeNB) | Inflation (consumer prices) | Real rate (our calculation) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Year 2023 | 3.88% | 7.8% | −3.6% |
| Year 2024 | 3.89% | 2.9% | +1.0% |
| Year 2025 | 3.40% | 3.6% | −0.2% |
| August 2026 | 3.61% | 3.2% | +0.4% |
How to read this. The real rates of the four periods lie between −3.6% and +1.0%: in 2023 inflation (7.8%) was above the rate on new housing loans (3.88%), in 2024 below it, in 2025 slightly above, in August 2026 below. A negative real rate means that interest rose by less than prices: a debt at a fixed rate then loses weight in real terms, a deposit at a fixed rate loses purchasing power. This is calculated looking backwards; what buyers expected for the coming years at the time is unknown, and a loan runs for decades, so the inflation of a single year says little about its term.
We read the OeNB annual values for 2023 to 2025 as averages (an assumption, not explained on the page); the comparison with the inflation of the calendar year is therefore an approximation. The value for August 2026 compares the monthly rate with the inflation rate of the month against the same month a year earlier. Inflation in the euro area was 3.3% in August 2026 according to the ECB, in Austria 3.2% according to Statistics Austria.
Evidence. OeNB, loan rates, new business; OeNB, loan rates, outstanding amounts; OeNB, handout of 20 March 2026; OeNB, Statistiken H2/24; Statistics Austria, inflation 2025; Statistics Austria, inflation 2024; Statistics Austria, press conference Housing 2023; Statistics Austria, inflation August 2026; ECB, nominal and real interest rates; Bundesbank, glossary “real interest rate”; ECB, monetary policy statement of 10 September 2026. The full references are in the sources block below.
Five series compared, nominal and adjusted for inflation
Five series since 2015, all set to 2015 = 100 (view “Index”): the house price index of Statistics Austria (from the purchase contracts in the land register, adjusted for quality), the median prices per square metre for flats in Austria and in Vienna (also from the purchase contracts, but not adjusted for quality), the rents (average of all existing main-residence rents according to the microcensus, including operating costs) and consumer prices. “Adjusted for inflation” divides each series by consumer prices, “Euro per m²” shows the two median prices in euro.
From 2015 to 2025 the median price per square metre rose by 50.3% in Austria and by 56.4% in Vienna, the house price index by 67.1%; consumer prices rose by 38.8%. Adjusted for inflation, a rise of 8.3% (Austria), 12.7% (Vienna) and 20.4% (house price index) remains. Compared with the 2022 peak, the 2025 annual values are lower: median Austria −4.6%, Vienna −5.5%, house price index −0.8%, adjusted for inflation −17.0%, −17.8% and −13.7%. The house price index reached a new high in the first half of 2026 at 223.23 (+3.9% on a year earlier).
Choose two years or one of the periods offered. The table shows the change in nominal terms, after deducting inflation and per year (geometric mean).
How to read this. Median and index do not measure the same thing. The median price per square metre depends on what was sold in a year (more or less new build, larger or smaller flats, different locations); the house price index removes such differences. That is why the two show different changes for 2022 to 2025 (median Austria −4.6%, index −0.8%). The annual values for 2025 and the value for the first half of 2026 are provisional and will be revised later.
Adjusting for inflation with consumer prices (all goods, not only housing) is an approximation. Whether the nominal or the real quantity is the right one depends on the question: anyone paying for a flat with a fixed-rate loan feels nominal instalments; anyone who wants to sell feels the purchasing power of the proceeds. The rents are a chain of the annual rates stated by Statistics Austria, starting from €7.10 per m² in 2015 (our calculation). Depending on the issue, 7.1 or 7.4 euro is published for 2015; the chain fits 7.1 and gives 10.15 euro for 2025 (published: 10.2 euro).
Two price measures, two findings: the residential property price index of the OeNB (base 2000 = 100, different data and a different method) stood at 274.0 in Q2 2026 and thus still 1.5% below its peak of 278.3 in Q3 2022 (our calculation; the values come from a portal page that reproduces the OeNB series), while Statistics Austria reports a record for its index.
Evidence. Statistics Austria, house price index H1 2026; Statistics Austria, house price index 2025; Statistics Austria, average property prices 2025; Statistics Austria, press conference Housing 2025; Statistics Austria, press conference Housing 2023; Statistics Austria, housing situation and housing costs 2025, press release; Statistics Austria, flat rents Q2 2026; Statistics Austria, inflation 2025; Statistics Austria, inflation 2024; Infina, factors for housing finance; OeNB, Immobilien aktuell Q4/22. The full references are in the sources block below.
Change against the same quarter a year earlier, new and existing housing
The house price index by quarter, as the change against the same quarter of the previous year. A rate of +5% says that the price level is 5% above that of the same quarter a year earlier, not that it rose by 5% within the quarter. The lines begin in 2020; the latest quarters are provisional.
The rates were between +9.8% and +14.3% from 2021 to Q3 2022, fell to +5.7% in Q4 2022, were negative from Q1 2023 to Q2 2024 (low of −5.4% in Q3 2023) and have been positive again since Q3 2024. In Q2 2026 the rate was +4.9% for new and +5.1% for existing housing; for the first half of 2026 as a whole Statistics Austria gives +3.9%.
| Quarter | Residential property overall | New housing | Existing housing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Q3 2024 | +0.5% | +2.4% | −0.2% |
| Q4 2024 | +1.1% | +3.0% | +0.6% |
| Q1 2025 | +3.5% | +3.7% | +3.5% |
| Q2 2025 | +1.6% | +2.5% | +1.3% |
| Q3 2025 | +1.7% | +2.0% | +1.5% |
| Q4 2025 | +3.7% | +3.4% | +3.8% |
| Q1 2026 | · | +2.6% | +2.9% |
| Q2 2026 | · | +4.9% | +5.1% |
The table shows the last eight quarters; the chart (“Table” under the chart) all quarters since 2020. · means: not stated. For 2026 the press releases we read give only the rates for new and existing housing.
How to read this. A rate against the same quarter of the previous year also changes strongly when prices hardly move within the quarter, because the earlier quarter drops out of the comparison. The jump from +13.1% in Q3 2022 to +5.7% in Q4 2022 shows the change to falling prices but also depends on the high base. The course says nothing about the future.
Evidence. Statistics Austria, house price index 2025; Statistics Austria, house price index 2024; Statistics Austria, house price index 2023; Statistics Austria, house price index H1 2026. The full references are in the sources block below.
Listings on a portal against purchase contracts
A listing states what the seller asks; a purchase contract what was paid. The median of the listings on ImmoScout24 was €6,041 per m² in Austria in 2025 and thus 1.45 times the median of the purchase prices (€4,162), in Vienna €6,636 against €5,212 (1.27 times; our calculation).
In the first half of 2026 ImmoScout24 gives €6,248 for Austria and €6,729 for Vienna according to two media reports. According to the same analysis the number of listings of flats for sale was 10% above the previous year in the first half of 2026; demand for flats for sale on the portal rose by 17% in 2025 (Vienna and Styria 21%).
How to read this. The two figures are not the same thing: listings on one portal against all purchases by private buyers according to the land register, both for 2025 (the purchase prices for 2026 are not yet available). The factor is an order of magnitude and not a margin that buyers could negotiate away. A rise in asking prices says nothing about prices actually paid.
ImmoScout24 is a portal with an interest of its own in listings and reach; we saw the figures for the first half of 2026 only through media reports (secondary source), and the demand and listing figures come from this one portal alone.
Evidence. ImmoScout24, condominium data analysis; news.at, property prices in H1 2026; leadersnet.at, prices and supply in H1 2026; Statistics Austria, average property prices 2025. The full references are in the sources block below.
How much is bought, financed and built
Four figures on how much is bought, financed and built. They are the measures we found for the often-mentioned reluctance in the market. We did not find an official statistic on how many owners do not offer or do not sell their flat.
| Year | Residential property purchases, change on the previous year | New housing loans (new business) | Dwellings permitted in new buildings | Dwellings completed in new buildings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | · | €25.70 billion | 65,136 | 62,091 |
| 2022 | · | €23.20 billion | 53,994 | 57,342 |
| 2023 | −28.2% | €10.44 billion | 37,517 | 52,330 |
| 2024 | +8.6% | €11.34 billion | 34,422 | 41,762 |
| 2025 | +18.3% | €16.69 billion | 31,979 | · |
| First half of 2026 | · | €9.50 billion | · | · |
The number of residential property purchases fell by 28.2% in 2023 and rose by 8.6% in 2024 and by 18.3% in 2025 (Statistics Austria: the strongest rise in transactions in more than a decade). Chained, the index stands at 92.2 in 2025, that is about 8% below 2022 (our calculation from three provisional rates). The volume of new housing loans fell from €23.20 billion (2022) to €10.44 billion (2023, the lowest since 2011 according to the OeNB), rose to €11.34 billion (2024) and €16.69 billion (2025); in the first half of 2026 it was €9.50 billion. In 2025, 31,979 dwellings in new buildings were permitted, the lowest since the survey began in 2010; that is 56.0% fewer than in 2017 (our calculation). In 2024, 41,762 dwellings were completed, 20.2% fewer than the year before.
How to read this. The purchases are provisional rates of change including an estimate for late reports; we chain three such rates into an index (2022 = 100) whose inaccuracy grows with every year. There is no rate for 2022, so the table shows no value for that year. The loan volumes come from publications of the OeNB and from portal pages that reproduce OeNB figures (the OeNB database could not be queried for them); we found no value for 2019 and 2020. The half-year 2026 is not a year and must not be compared with the annual values.
The values for permits and completions of recent years are provisional and include estimates for late reports; for 2024, 32,100 permitted dwellings were reported first and 34,422 later. Permits say something about later supply but not about the price; we do not claim a connection with prices. We have not yet found a figure for completions in 2025.
Evidence. Statistics Austria, house price index 2023; Statistics Austria, house price index 2024; Statistics Austria, house price index 2025; OeNB, Statistiken H1/24; OeNB, handout of 20 March 2026; Infina, volume of new housing loans; Infina, property price guide; Infina, factors for housing finance; ORF.at, housing loans 2023; Statistics Austria, building permits 2025; Statistics Austria, completions 2024. The full references are in the sources block below.
Microcensus against listings, and the legal position since 2026
An existing main-residence rent cost on average €10.5 per m² and month including operating costs in Q2 2026 (€7.9 net rent plus €2.7 operating costs; the source rounds, so the sum differs slightly). Anyone who concluded a new contract paid more on average (€12.4 per m² for contracts under 2 years), anyone who has rented for 30 years or longer paid less (€6.5). Listings ask considerably more than is paid in the stock: in Q1 2026 the median was €16.09 (Austria) and €22.41 (Vienna) gross, which the source puts at 8% and 10% more than a year earlier.
Rents paid rose by 3.3% in Q2 2026 against the same quarter a year earlier and by 0.4% against the previous quarter; Statistics Austria writes that the momentum has eased. In the consumer price index rents rose by 4.4% in August 2026 against the same month a year earlier. The guideline rent for Vienna has been €6.74 per m² and month since 1 April 2026 (before: €6.67; +1%); it applies only to contracts within the scope of the Guideline Rent Act (Richtwertgesetz, our translation) and is not a market rent.
Legal position. Since 1 January 2026 the Rent Indexation Act (Mieten-Wertsicherungsgesetz, our translation) limits the adjustment of residential rents, including existing contracts: indexation may take effect only once a year on 1 April, and inflation above 3% counts only by half. For price-protected rents, a maximum of 1% on 1 April 2026 and 2% on 1 April 2027 also applies. The minimum fixed term of rental contracts rises in principle from 3 to 5 years. This is a summary and not legal advice; for your contract the wording of the law counts.
How to read this. Rents paid and rents asked are not the same. The microcensus asks about 20,000 households per quarter about the rent they actually pay (stock, main residence, all legal forms including municipal and cooperative flats); the listings show what is asked for flats that are being let anew. The two therefore say different things: one what tenants pay on average, the other what a new tenant would have to pay today. With operating costs (including VAT, excluding heating and hot water) and gross (listings: net rent plus operating costs, excluding heating and electricity costs) the values are comparable but not defined in exactly the same way. The press releases we read give no microcensus rent per m² for Vienna.
Evidence. Statistics Austria, flat rents Q2 2026; Statistics Austria, flat rents Q4 2025; Statistics Austria, guideline rents and category amounts; Statistics Austria, housing situation and housing costs 2025, press release; Statistics Austria, press conference Housing 2025; ImmoScout24, rents Q1 2026; Statistics Austria, inflation August 2026; forum-media.at, Rent Indexation Act section 1; Parliament, committee report on the 5th MILG. The full references are in the sources block below.
Gaps in the research
A compilation also needs what is missing. We found these gaps in the research (as of 7 October 2026); they are the reason why some series show gaps or values are marked as approximations only.
How reliable each statement is can be found in the tab “What holds up”.
The barometer puts things in context; it recommends nothing. It takes ten key figures from the tabs before it and shows for each where its latest value lies among the values of the last ten (or five) years: in the upper, middle or lower range. It does not say whether now is a good time to buy or sell, and it cannot: that would need a forecast and your personal situation, and a barometer has neither. It is a picture of the situation and not investment advice. Two statements about the housing market, that prices per square metre have risen sharply and that buyers and sellers are holding back, are checked against the figures in the tab “What holds up”. For your own calculation there are the tabs “Buying” and “Buy or rent”.
Where does the latest value lie among the values of recent years?
Each row is a key figure. In the strip every comparison value is a dot, the diamond is the latest value, the dashed line the average of the comparison values. The upper range (blue) and the lower range (yellow) are tinted. The rank counts from the top: rank 1 is the largest value in the comparison. The three settings change what is compared with and how large the ranges are.
6 of 10 key figures are in the upper range, 3 in the middle and 1 in the lower (setting: nominal, 10 years, division: thirds).
| Key figure | Latest value | As of | Rank | Range | Smallest comparison value | Largest comparison value | Average |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| House price index (index, 2010 = 100) | 223.23 | H1 2026 | 1 of 11 | upper range | 138.00 (2016) | 217.90 (2022) | 182.67 |
| Price per m², flat, Austria (median, € per m²) | 4,162 | 2025 | 2 of 10 | upper range | 2,950 (2016) | 4,364 (2022) | 3,686 |
| Price per m², flat, Vienna (median, € per m²) | 5,212 | 2025 | 2 of 10 | upper range | 3,624 (2016) | 5,516 (2022) | 4,589 |
| Rents (microcensus) (€ per m² and month, including operating costs) | 10.5 | Q2 2026 | 1 of 11 | upper range | 7.33 (2016) | 10.15 (2025) | 8.50 |
| Purchase price to annual rent, Austria (annual rents) | 34.2 | 2025 | 7 of 10 | middle range | 33.5 (2016) | 42.0 (2022) | 36.1 |
| Price change on a year earlier (house price index) (% on a year earlier) | 3.9 | H1 2026 | 8 of 11 | middle range | −2.9 (2023) | 11.6 (2022) | 5.4 |
| Inflation (consumer prices) (% on a year earlier) | 3.2 | August 2026 | 4 of 11 | middle range | 0.9 (2016) | 8.6 (2022) | 3.4 |
| ECB deposit rate (% per year, compared with monthly values) | 2.50 | 1 Oct 2026 | 25 of 121 | upper range | −0.50 (October 2019) | 4.00 (October 2023) | 0.85 |
| Euribor 12 months (% per year, compared with monthly values) | 3.303 | 1 Oct 2026 | 21 of 121 | upper range | −0.511 (February 2021) | 4.198 (October 2023) | 1.096 |
| Building permits (dwellings in new buildings) | 31,979 | 2025 | 10 of 10 | lower range | 31,979 (2025) | 72,756 (2017) | 55,594 |
Without a script the table shows the default setting (nominal, 10 years, thirds). With a script the settings can be changed and the rows show the strips.
How to read this. How the calculation works. The comparison values are the annual values of the last 10 (or 5) years up to 2025, for the two interest rates the monthly values of the last 10 (or 5) years before the latest month. If the latest value is the annual value for 2025, it is itself one of the comparison values; if it is a value from 2026 (half-year, quarter, month), it is added. The rank is the number of values that are larger than the latest value, plus 1; equal values share the better rank. Let H be the number of values times the chosen share, rounded down (at least 1). A value is then in the upper range if fewer than H values lie above it, in the lower range if fewer than H values lie below it, otherwise in the middle (if both apply, it counts as middle).
An example from the table: the median price per square metre of a flat in Austria was €4,162 in 2025. Of the ten annual values from 2016 to 2025 only the one for 2022 (€4,364) is higher, so rank 2 of 10. With thirds H = 3 (10 ÷ 3, rounded down); fewer than 3 values above means: upper range.
What “upper” and “lower” do not mean. “Upper” only says that in this comparison the value is among the largest, not that it is too high, that a flat is overpriced or that a purchase is risky; “lower” does not mean cheap or good value. For interest rates upper means that a loan costs more than in the last ten years, for building permits lower means that less is being built in comparison. Whether that is good or bad for you depends on whether you buy, sell or rent.
The window is a choice. Ten years run from 2016 to 2025 and include the years with interest rates around zero up to 2021 as well as the rise from July 2022; anyone who chooses five years compares with 2021 to 2025. We did not read any study showing that the rank in such a window says something about future prices or interest rates, and we draw no conclusion from it.
On the values. For the house price index, the price change and inflation the latest value is a figure from 2026 (first half-year or August), the comparison values are annual averages; holding a half-year against annual values is an approximate comparison. The rents for 2016 to 2025 are a chain of the annual rates starting from €7.10 (our calculation), the latest value is the quarterly value from Q2 2026. For Euribor and the deposit rate the latest position is 1 Oct 2026 (Euribor: first working day of the month, value from a portal). “Adjusted for inflation” means: divided by consumer prices (chain of the annual rates, our calculation); there is no annual value for 2026, so the latest value there is the year 2025. The price change, inflation, interest rates, building permits and the ratio of purchase price to annual rent do not change with the setting “nominal” or “adjusted for inflation”. The interest rates are nominal rates; the real interest rate is shown in the tab “Rates and market”.
Evidence. Statistics Austria, house price index H1 2026; Statistics Austria, house price index 2025; Statistics Austria, house price index 2024; Statistics Austria, house price index 2023; Statistics Austria, average property prices 2025; Statistics Austria, press conference Housing 2025; Statistics Austria, press conference Housing 2023; Statistics Austria, housing situation and housing costs 2025, press release; Statistics Austria, flat rents Q2 2026; Statistics Austria, inflation August 2026; Statistics Austria, inflation 2025; Statistics Austria, inflation 2024; ECB, key interest rates; Euribor portal euribor-rates.eu; Statistics Austria, building permits 2025. The full references are in the sources block below.
How many annual rents does a square metre cost?
The ratio divides the median purchase price per square metre of a flat in Austria by twelve monthly rents per square metre. The rent used is the average of all existing main-residence rents according to the microcensus, including operating costs. For 2025 this gives 34.2 annual rents (€4,162 divided by 12 times €10.15, our calculation); the inverse is 2.9%.
| Year | Median price per m² | Rent per m² and month | Purchase price to annual rent | Inverse (per cent) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | €2,769 | €7.10 | 32.5 | 3.1% |
| 2016 | €2,950 | €7.33 | 33.5 | 3.0% |
| 2017 | €3,068 | €7.59 | 33.7 | 3.0% |
| 2018 | €3,269 | €7.80 | 34.9 | 2.9% |
| 2019 | €3,480 | €7.98 | 36.3 | 2.8% |
| 2020 | €3,625 | €8.22 | 36.7 | 2.7% |
| 2021 | €3,951 | €8.24 | 40.0 | 2.5% |
| 2022 | €4,364 | €8.65 | 42.0 | 2.4% |
| 2023 | €4,000 | €9.31 | 35.8 | 2.8% |
| 2024 | €3,986 | €9.76 | 34.0 | 2.9% |
| 2025 | €4,162 | €10.15 | 34.2 | 2.9% |
From 2015 (32.5) the ratio rose to 42.0 in 2022, fell to 35.8 in 2023 and stood at 34.2 in 2025. The average for 2016 to 2025 is 36.1; 2025 is thus at rank 7 of 10 (in the middle range with thirds). The dashed line in the chart is the average of the chosen comparison period.
The same calculation with other rents, always with the median price of 2025:
| Rent in the denominator | Euro per m² and month | Date of the rent | Purchase price to annual rent (our calculation) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rent paid, all existing main-residence rents (chain of the annual rates) | €10.15 | 2025 | 34.2 |
| Rent paid, new contracts (duration under 2 years) | €12.40 | 2025 | 28.0 |
| Rent paid, old contracts (30 years and longer) | €6.50 | 2025 | 53.4 |
| Asking rent from listings (median, gross) | €16.09 | Q1 2026 | 21.6 |
How to read this. Price and rent are not defined in the same way. The median price comes from the purchases of a year (new build and existing flats mixed, not adjusted for quality), the rent from a survey of households about ongoing tenancies, including municipal, cooperative and older contracts. Anyone who rents anew today pays more on average than the average of all tenants, and the listings ask for even more; that is why the ratio in the table lies between 21.6 and 53.4, depending on which rent one takes. The asking rent belongs to a different date (Q1 2026) than the price (2025).
The inverse (2.9%) is not a return that a landlord would achieve: operating and maintenance costs, vacancies, taxes and financing costs are missing, and the denominator is the average rent paid, not the rent that can be achieved. The tab “Buy or rent” sets buying against renting with interest, ancillary costs and taxes; the ratio here does not answer that question.
One row is missing for Vienna: the press releases we read give no microcensus rent per m² for Vienna. That is why the Vienna price per square metre appears in the barometer as a price but not as a ratio to rent.
Evidence. Statistics Austria, average property prices 2025; Statistics Austria, press conference Housing 2025; Statistics Austria, housing situation and housing costs 2025, press release; Statistics Austria, flat rents Q2 2026; Statistics Austria, flat rents Q4 2025; ImmoScout24, rents Q1 2026. The full references are in the sources block below.
A look back at measured interest rates, not a forecast
The barometer shows interest rates as a rank. Here the same thing is shown in euro: how the monthly instalment of a loan has changed with the interest rates. Both are looks back at measured interest rates and not a forecast. How much a rise would cost your instalment, measured against your income, is calculated by the interest rate stress test in the tab Buying.
The same loan (€250,000, 25 years), calculated at the OeNB average interest rate on new housing loans in the months for which we have a value. The bars begin at zero; the instalment of the latest month (August 2026) is black.
Suppose the loan is tied to the 3-month Euribor: rate equals Euribor plus a margin, not below zero. The rate applies at the start and is reset once after 24 months, using the Euribor of that month; the term stays and the instalment is recalculated. Each point in the chart is a possible start of the loan (January 2015 to October 2024) and shows how the monthly instalment would have changed after 24 months. Choose the start with the cursor (tap, drag or arrow keys).
| Start | Rate at the start | Rate after 24 months | Instalment at the start | Instalment afterwards | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 2015 | 2.08% | 1.68% | €1,069 | €1,025 | −4% |
| January 2016 | 1.87% | 1.67% | €1,044 | €1,022 | −2% |
| January 2018 | 1.67% | 1.62% | €1,020 | €1,015 | −1% |
| January 2019 | 1.69% | 1.45% | €1,022 | €996 | −3% |
| January 2020 | 1.62% | 1.43% | €1,014 | €993 | −2% |
| January 2021 | 1.45% | 4.16% | €994 | €1,314 | +32% |
| October 2021 | 1.45% | 5.95% | €994 | €1,553 | +56% |
| December 2021 | 1.43% | 5.96% | €991 | €1,554 | +57% |
| April 2022 | 1.54% | 5.88% | €1,004 | €1,544 | +54% |
| October 2022 | 3.19% | 5.25% | €1,210 | €1,478 | +22% |
| January 2023 | 4.16% | 4.74% | €1,342 | €1,418 | +6% |
| October 2023 | 5.95% | 4.02% | €1,603 | €1,338 | −17% |
| January 2024 | 5.90% | 4.03% | €1,596 | €1,339 | −16% |
| October 2024 | 5.25% | 4.59% | €1,498 | €1,408 | −6% |
In the example (€250,000, 25 years, margin 2.00 pp) a loan starting in October 2021 would have had a rate of 1.45% at the start (3-month Euribor −0.547% plus margin) and a monthly instalment of €994. After 24 months, in October 2023, the 3-month Euribor stood at 3.951%, so the rate was 5.95% and the recalculated monthly instalment €1,553 (+56%). The strongest rise in the chart is +57% for a start in December 2021; for 24 of the 118 possible starts the instalment rose by more than 20% after 24 months. The strongest fall is −17% for a start in October 2023. All our own calculation with the assumptions above.
How to read this. Block A: the interest rate is the average of all housing loans newly agreed in a month in Austria (OeNB), weighted by the loan amount and across all fixation periods from variable to over ten years. An individual loan had a different rate, depending on the bank, creditworthiness, fixation and costs. These are the 17 months for which we have a value; months are missing in between (see “Rates and market”). The instalment is that of an annuity with a constant interest rate over the whole term, without fees (see “Loan”). The conversion of the annual rate into a monthly rate follows your choice in the tab “Loan”.
Block B: assumptions. The interest rate is the 3-month Euribor on the first working day of the month (value from a portal) plus the margin, not below 0%. It is reset once after 24 months, using the Euribor of that month; the term stays and the instalment is recalculated. How often a contract adjusts the rate and whether it has a floor we did not check; many variable loans change the rate more than once. Fees, taxes and income are not taken into account.
On the margin: it is an assumption. For a variable example on 1 May 2026 bank99 gives a borrowing rate of 4.91% and names the 3-month Euribor as the tie; that stood at 2.200% on 4 May 2026. The difference of 2.71 pp is only a pointer to the size of a margin (our calculation: different dates, and the rate in the example may contain further components). Hypo Tirol does not state the margin on its page.
How to read the chart: it compares the Euribor at the start with the Euribor 24 months later. That the instalment rose sharply for starts in 2021 follows from the 3-month Euribor rising from about minus 0.5% to about 4%; the chart says nothing about how Euribor will develop, and it is no indication of whether a variable or a fixed rate is cheaper. A fixed rate has other costs (see “Rates and market”, fixation period).
Evidence. OeNB, loan rates, new business; OeNB, handout of 20 March 2026; OeNB, Statistiken H1/24; OeNB, Statistiken H1/23; OeNB, Statistiken H1/23, whole issue; OeNB, Statistiken Q3/22; OeNB, Statistiken Q1/22; OeNB, Statistiken Q2/21; Euribor portal euribor-rates.eu; bank99, housing loan; Hypo Tirol, housing loan. The full references are in the sources block below.
What is not part of the rank, and what the OeNB measures itself
Seven quantities do not fit into the ten-year rank of the barometer because the series is shorter, only two points in time are available or a model supplies them. They are shown here alongside, without a range. Where a short series exists the same ranking rule applies; the number of comparison values is given.
| Quantity | Latest value | Comparison | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| New housing loans (new business) | €16.69 billion (2025) | rank 3 of 5 (2021 to 2025); range 10.44 (2023) to 25.7 (2021), average 17.47 billion euro | Measurement, partly via portals |
| Completed dwellings in new buildings | 41,762 (2024) | rank 4 of 4 (2021 to 2024); range 41,762 (2024) to 62,091 (2021), average 53,381 | Measurement |
| Purchases of residential property | +18.3% on 2024 (2025) | no series over ten years; 2023: −28.2%, 2024: +8.6%; according to Statistics Austria the strongest rise in transactions in more than a decade | Measurement |
| Residential property price index of the OeNB (2000 = 100) | 274.0 (Q2 2026) | 1.5% below the peak of 278.3 (Q3 2022, our calculation); no ten-year series read | Measurement, only via a portal |
| Fundamental price indicator of the OeNB (deviation of prices from the fundamental price) | Austria 20.0%, Vienna 28.9% (2023) | 2022: 34.5% and 39.3%; we found no value for the time after 2023 | Measurement (OeNB model) |
| Price of a 70 m² flat in annual incomes | Austria 5.7, Vienna 7.1 (2025) | 70 m² times median price divided by household net income (median €51,152 per year, Austria, EU-SILC 2025); for Vienna the Austrian income is used; no series | Own calculation |
| Housing costs as a share of disposable household income (median) | 15% (2025) | 16% in 2015; only two points | Measurement |
The OeNB calculates a fundamental price indicator: by its description it measures the percentage deviation of residential property prices from a fundamental price that results from seven sub-indicators. A value above zero means that prices are above this model value. The bars show the two annual averages that we found. For individual quarters publications give higher values: Austria 37.3% in Q3 2022 and Vienna 42.7%.
For the classification of prices the OeNB states for 2025, according to media reports on its press release of 29 Jan 2026: residential property prices rose by 2.1% in nominal terms and fell in real terms; since Q3 2022 they have fallen by 3.3% nominally and by about 16% adjusted for inflation, while incomes rose by about 19%. Affordability, it said, had improved slightly. We could not open the press release itself.
How to read this. The fundamental price indicator is the result of an OeNB model and not a measured price. What it shows depends on the sub-indicators and assumptions of the model; the short versions we read name them only briefly. We did not find values after 2023; the OeNB page with the time series was not readable for our retrieval tool. The OeNB explained the fall from 2022 to 2023 in a 2023 publication mainly by the sharply falling real property prices.
Two indices, two pictures: the residential property price index of the OeNB (JUSTIMMO database, generalised additive models) stood in Q2 2026 still 1.5% below its peak, while the house price index of Statistics Austria (purchase contracts in the land register) reports a record for the first half of 2026. Data and methods differ; that need not be an error. We read the values of the OeNB index from 2024 only through a portal.
Price to income: the calculation takes a flat of 70 m² at the median price per square metre and divides by the median household net income of Austria. Viennese households have a different income, which we did not find; for Vienna the figure is therefore only an order of magnitude. The figure says nothing about how much equity or what instalment is available to you.
Evidence. OeNB, Austrian property data, Q1 2024; OeNB, Immobilien aktuell Q4/22; OeNB, turnaround in the property market; ORF.at, overvaluation 2022; OeNB, factsheet on the residential property market, time series; OeNB, residential property price index, method; Infina, property price statistics; ORF.at, 29 January 2026: OeNB on residential property prices in 2025; leadersnet.at, 29 January 2026: OeNB analysis of residential property prices; Statistics Austria, house price index H1 2026; Statistics Austria, house price index 2023; Statistics Austria, house price index 2024; Statistics Austria, house price index 2025; OeNB, Statistiken H1/24; OeNB, handout of 20 March 2026; Infina, volume of new housing loans; ORF.at, housing loans 2023; Statistics Austria, completions 2024; Statistics Austria, average property prices 2025; Statistics Austria, household income, EU-SILC 2025; Statistics Austria, press conference Housing 2025; Statistics Austria, housing situation and housing costs 2025, press release. The full references are in the sources block below.
Limits, listed honestly
A barometer is only as good as what it is used for. These limits belong to the panel “The picture in ten key figures”; they apply equally to everything that we read from it.
What it is good for: as an overview of where the figures stand today compared with recent years, as a prompt for questions (why are interest rates at the top and construction at the bottom?) and as a check on statements such as “prices have risen sharply”. The answer to that is in the tab “What holds up”.
Evidence. Statistics Austria, house price index 2025; OeNB, Statistiken H1/24; OeNB, handout of 20 March 2026; Infina, volume of new housing loans; Infina, property price guide; Infina, factors for housing finance; ORF.at, housing loans 2023; Statistics Austria, building permits 2025. The full references are in the sources block below.
This tab gives no recommendation to buy, sell, borrow or invest and is not investment advice.
What holds up? Here are 19 statements as they turn up in conversations, reports and advertisements about interest rates, prices, rents and the housing market, each with the figures for it, the sources and a rating. The rating is a proposal of this chapter and not the truth; it applies to the statement as it is worded in the row and to the period named. Measurements, offers and our own calculations are marked separately. None of it is a forecast, and none of it is a recommendation.
Short version of the rows further down
Two statements come up in almost every conversation about the housing market. Here is the short version; the rows of the ladder below contain the sources and what the figures do not show.
| Measure | 2015 to 2025 | 2019 to 2025 | 2022 to 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median, flats, Austria | +50.3% (real +8.3%) | +19.6% (real −8.1%) | −4.6% (real −17.0%) |
| Median, flats, Vienna | +56.4% (real +12.7%) | +23.6% (real −5.0%) | −5.5% (real −17.8%) |
| House price index, Austria | +67.1% (real +20.4%) | +32.6% (real +1.9%) | −0.8% (real −13.7%) |
| Consumer prices | +38.8% | +30.1% | +14.9% |
Nominal; “real” means: divided by consumer prices (our calculation). Annual values, 2025 provisional.
Over ten years prices have risen in nominal terms by 50.3% to 67.1%, depending on the measure (consumer prices: +38.8%). After deducting consumer prices, a rise of 8.3% to 20.4% remains. From 2022 to 2025 prices did not rise in nominal terms: in 2025 the two medians are 4.6% and 5.5% below 2022, the index 0.8%. For the first half of 2026, however, Statistics Austria reports a record for the index (223.23, +3.9% on a year earlier). For ten years the figures confirm the statement, more clearly in nominal than in real terms; for 2022 to 2025 they do not, with the exception of the index in the first half of 2026.
| Measure | Value | Row |
|---|---|---|
| Purchases of residential property, change on the previous year (Statistics Austria) | 2023: −28.2%, 2024: +8.6%, 2025: +18.3% (provisional) | “Buyers are holding back” |
| Newly granted housing loans (OeNB, read through portals) | 2022: €23.20 billion, 2023: €10.44 billion, 2025: €16.69 billion | “Buyers are holding back” |
| Owners who do not sell | No statistic found (web search, no specialist database) | “Sellers are holding back” |
| Listings of flats for sale (one portal, two media reports) | +10% in the first half of 2026 compared with a year earlier | “Sellers are holding back” |
For 2023 a slump is documented: purchases fell by 28.2%, newly granted loans from €23.20 billion to €10.44 billion. Since then purchases and loans have been rising again without reaching the levels of 2021 and 2022 (purchases in 2025: 92.2 with 2022 = 100, our calculation from three provisional rates; loans in 2025: €16.69 billion). Whether buyers waited, loans were too expensive or the rules stood in the way, the figures do not say. For sellers holding back we found no measurement (web search, no specialist database); more listings are no counter-proof. Rating: Partly documented for the buyers, Popular model for the sellers.
How to read this. The ratings are a proposal of this chapter. They say how well the statement is covered by measurements we read, not whether buying or selling would make sense now.
Evidence. Sources and calculations are in the rows: “Prices over ten years”, “Prices after deducting inflation”, “Prices since 2022”, “Prices rising again”, “Buyers are holding back”, “Sellers are holding back”.
Prices, interest rates, saving, market, rents, rules and decision
Each row contains a statement as it turns up in conversations, reports and advertisements, the key figures for it and the rating. A click opens the row: what there is, what the figures do not show, how we rate it, and the sources. The level applies to the statement as it is worded in the row and to the period named. It is a proposal of this chapter and not the truth.
| Level | Meaning | Rows |
|---|---|---|
| Well documented | Several measurements from official statistics, the same direction, reference bases known. The statement is worded as narrowly as the figures reach. | 4 |
| Partly documented | Part of the statement is covered by measurements and part is not, or different measures diverge. | 7 |
| Simplifying | The statement simplifies: it holds for one case, one period or one measure and is generalised beyond that. | 4 |
| Popular model | A widespread statement for which we found no measurement or study that tests exactly it (web search, no specialist database). Provisional, and no verdict on whether there is anything to it. | 2 |
| Refuted | Measurements or legal norms we read speak against the statement in the period named. The statement may have held in another period. | 2 |
What there is. Statistics Austria measures the prices of flats in two ways, both from the purchase contracts in the land register: as the median of the prices per square metre (not quality-adjusted) and as the house price index (quality-adjusted). The median for flats rose in Austria from €2,769 (2015) to €4,162 (2025), in Vienna from €3,333 to €5,212; the house price index from 129.33 to 216.05 (2010 = 100). That is +50.3%, +56.4% and +67.1%; consumer prices rose by 38.8% over the same period. All three measures therefore show a rise above inflation.
What the figures do not show. All three measures come from the same body and the same purchase contracts; we did not read a second, independent source for the whole ten years (of the OeNB’s residential property price index we have only values from 2022). The values for 2025 are provisional. A median says nothing about an individual flat. Whether “sharply” fits depends on whether inflation is deducted (row “prices after deducting inflation”) and on which period is chosen (row “prices since 2022”).
Rating. Well documented for the nominal statement over ten years: an official series of measurements, three measures, the same direction, reference bases known.
Evidence. Statistics Austria, average property prices 2025; Statistics Austria, house price index 2025; Statistics Austria, house price index H1 2026; Statistics Austria, press conference Housing 2025; Statistics Austria, press conference Housing 2023; Statistics Austria, inflation 2025; Statistics Austria, inflation 2024; Infina, property price statistics. The full references are in the sources block below.
What there is. Dividing the series by consumer prices (our calculation) leaves, from 2015 to 2025, +8.3% (median Austria), +12.7% (median Vienna) and +20.4% (house price index), that is 0.8 to 1.9% a year. Over six years (2019 to 2025) the two medians are below their 2019 level in real terms (−8.1% and −5.0%), the index is above it (+1.9%). According to media reports the OeNB said for 2025 that residential property prices had fallen in real terms (the press release itself could not be retrieved).
What the figures do not show. The adjustment uses consumer prices as a whole and not an index of housing costs; a different adjustment would give different figures. Whether nominal or real is the right measure depends on the question: someone paying for a flat with a fixed-rate loan feels nominal instalments; someone who wants to sell, the purchasing power of the proceeds.
Rating. Partly documented: over ten years all three measures rose in real terms, but moderately, and over six years the result differs by measure.
Evidence. Statistics Austria, average property prices 2025; Statistics Austria, house price index 2025; Statistics Austria, house price index H1 2026; Statistics Austria, inflation 2025; Statistics Austria, inflation 2024; Statistics Austria, press conference Housing 2025; ORF.at, 29 January 2026: OeNB on residential property prices in 2025; leadersnet.at, 29 January 2026: OeNB analysis of residential property prices. The full references are in the sources block below.
What there is. The annual values for 2025 are below those of 2022: median Austria −4.6% (€4,364 to €4,162), Vienna −5.5% (€5,516 to €5,212), house price index −0.8% (217.90 to 216.05). After deducting inflation the changes are −17.0%, −17.8% and −13.7% (our calculation). The OeNB’s residential property price index stood in Q2 2026 1.5% below its peak (278.3 in Q3 2022; we read the values through a portal). According to media reports the OeNB gives for the period from Q3 2022 to the end of 2025 −3.3% in nominal terms and about −16% adjusted for inflation.
What the figures do not show. Nominally the fall is small and depends on the measure (index −0.8%, median Austria −4.6%); the median also depends on what was sold in a year. In H1 2026 Statistics Austria reports a new record for the index (row “prices rising again”). Annual values are means over the year: the peak and the low within the years cannot be seen in them. We know the OeNB’s figures only through the media; the reports use different anchors (peak quarter to year-end against annual averages), which is why our value for the index in real terms (−13.7%) differs from the OeNB’s (about −16%).
Rating. Partly documented: in real terms the fall is clear for all measures (13.7% to 17.8%). Nominally it is small, for the index only just below zero, and overtaken in H1 2026.
Evidence. Statistics Austria, average property prices 2025; Statistics Austria, house price index 2025; Statistics Austria, house price index H1 2026; Infina, property price statistics; ORF.at, 29 January 2026: OeNB on residential property prices in 2025; leadersnet.at, 29 January 2026: OeNB analysis of residential property prices. The full references are in the sources block below.
What there is. Statistics Austria reports a house price index of 223.23 for H1 2026, that is +3.9% on a year earlier and a record. The rates against the same quarter of the previous year were negative from Q1 2023 to Q2 2024 (low of −5.4% in Q3 2023) and have been positive since Q3 2024; in Q2 2026 they stood at +4.9% (new housing) and +5.1% (existing housing).
What the figures do not show. The median for flats was in 2025 still 4.6% below 2022 (there is no annual value for 2026 yet), and the OeNB’s residential property price index stood in Q2 2026 1.5% below its peak: these two measurements therefore show no record (yet). The data and methods differ (purchase contracts in the land register against the JUSTIMMO database with a regression model); that is not an error of either side. The values for 2026 are provisional and will be revised. The rates say nothing about the future.
Rating. Partly documented: one official series shows a rise and a record, the second price measurement (OeNB, read through a portal) is still below its peak.
Evidence. Statistics Austria, house price index H1 2026; Statistics Austria, house price index 2025; Statistics Austria, house price index 2024; Statistics Austria, house price index 2023; Statistics Austria, average property prices 2025; Infina, property price statistics. The full references are in the sources block below.
What there is. ImmoScout24 gives for 2025 a median of asking prices of €6,041 per m² (Austria) and €6,636 (Vienna) for flats. The median of the prices paid (Statistics Austria, purchase contracts) was €4,162 and €5,212. The asking price was therefore 1.45 times and 1.27 times as high (our calculation). For H1 2026 the portal gives, according to two media reports, €6,248 and €6,729.
What the figures do not show. The two figures measure different groups: listings on one portal (flats that are on offer right now) against all purchases by private households according to the land register. Whether and how far new-build and location explain the gap we did not check. The factor is therefore an order of magnitude and not a margin that buyers could negotiate away. The portal has an interest of its own in listings and reach; we saw the figures for 2026 only in media reports.
Rating. Simplifying: listings show what is asked. As a measure of prices paid they are no good, but the gap to the prices paid is large.
Evidence. ImmoScout24, condominium data analysis; Statistics Austria, average property prices 2025; news.at, property prices in H1 2026; leadersnet.at, prices and supply in H1 2026. The full references are in the sources block below.
What there is. The OeNB calculates a fundamental price indicator that, by its description, measures the percentage deviation of residential property prices from a fundamental price (seven sub-indicators). A value above zero means: prices are above this model value. For Austria it stood at 34.5% as the 2022 annual average and at 20.0% in 2023, for Vienna at 39.3% and 28.9%; for individual quarters publications give values up to 37.3% (Austria, Q3 2022) and 42.7% (Vienna). The OeNB attributed the fall from 2022 to 2023 in a 2023 publication mainly to the sharply falling real property prices.
What the figures do not show. The indicator is the result of a model and not a measured price; what it shows depends on the sub-indicators and assumptions, which the short versions we read name only briefly. We did not find values after 2023. “Overvalued” does not mean that prices must fall, and says nothing about an individual flat. We did not read a study that tests the indicator as a forecast.
Rating. Partly documented: one institution, one model, values up to 2023. The direction (above the model value, with a shrinking gap) is documented, the size depends on the model.
Evidence. OeNB, Austrian property data, Q1 2024; OeNB, factsheet on the residential property market, time series; OeNB, turnaround in the property market; ORF.at, overvaluation 2022; OeNB, Immobilien aktuell Q4/22; Infina, property price statistics. The full references are in the sources block below.
What there is. According to the OeNB’s interest rate statistics the average rate on new housing loans was 1.23% in December 2021, 4.34% in November 2023 (a provisional peak, according to the OeNB) and 3.61% in August 2026, that is 2.9 times the level of December 2021. A second, independent measurement: in the surveys of the Arbeiterkammer Vienna the banks’ variable lending rates stood at 0.875% to 1.414% in July 2019 and at 3.763% to 4.50% in November to December 2024. The ECB deposit rate rose from −0.50% (until July 2022) to 4.00% (from 20 Sep 2023) and has stood at 2.50% since 16 Sep 2026.
What the figures do not show. These are nominal rates. In real terms (rate on new housing loans against the inflation of the same period, our calculation) the rates were −3.6% in 2023, +1.0% in 2024, −0.2% in 2025 and +0.4% in August 2026, that is between −3.6% and +1.0%. The OeNB average covers all new loans of a month and says nothing about the offer someone gets; the banks’ ranges are wide (Arbeiterkammer 2024: variable 3.763% to 4.50%).
Rating. Well documented: official OeNB statistics, confirmed by the surveys of the Arbeiterkammer. The statement holds in nominal terms.
Evidence. OeNB, loan rates, new business; OeNB, Statistiken H1/24; OeNB, Statistiken H1/23; OeNB, Statistiken Q1/22; OeNB, handout of 20 March 2026; AK Vienna, mortgage comparison, August 2019; AK Vienna, mortgage comparison, January 2025; ECB, key interest rates; Statistics Austria, inflation 2025; Statistics Austria, inflation 2024; Statistics Austria, inflation August 2026. The full references are in the sources block below.
What there is. In 2024 and 2025 interest rates fell: after the peak of 4.34% (November 2023) the average on new housing loans fell to 3.51% in December 2024 and 3.39% in December 2025, and the ECB cut the deposit rate from 4.00% to 2.00%. In 2026 the measurements point the other way: the ECB raised the deposit rate twice (effective from 17 June to 2.25% and from 16 September to 2.50%), the 12-month Euribor rose from 2.204% on 1 Oct 2025 to 3.303% on 1 Oct 2026, and the average on new housing loans rose from 3.45% in March to 3.61% in August 2026.
What the figures do not show. None of these series shows how interest rates will develop; we give no forecast. Euribor rose in spring 2026 already, before the ECB’s first increase (2.229% on 2 Mar, 2.845% on 1 Apr 2026); we did not check why. The Euribor values come from a portal and not from the primary source.
Rating. Refuted for 2026 (proposal): all three series rise in 2026. For 2024 and 2025 the statement would have been right.
Evidence. OeNB, loan rates, new business; OeNB, handout of 20 March 2026; ECB, key interest rates; ECB, press release of 10 September 2026; ECB, monetary policy statement of 10 September 2026; Euribor portal euribor-rates.eu. The full references are in the sources block below.
What there is. In the OeNB averages new housing loans with an interest fixation of up to 1 year (variable ones included) were more expensive than those with a fixation over 10 years by 1.02 pp in 2023, 1.16 pp in 2024 and 0.16 pp in 2025; in August 2026 the two were practically level (3.65% and 3.67%). The offers give a mixed picture: the best rates from durchblicker.at (October 2026) are 3.24% for variable lending rates and 3.38% for 25 years fixed; in the Arbeiterkammer Vienna survey (November to December 2024) the median of variable lending rates was 4.36%, that of rates fixed for 20 years 3.45%.
What the figures do not show. The averages mix all loans of a period and do not compare like with like. We read the OeNB’s annual columns as annual averages (not explained on the page). A variable rate can rise, a fixed one stays the same: this risk is in none of the figures. The calculators show it with the rate shock (tab “Buying”) and with the change of rate (tab “Loan”).
Rating. Simplifying: as a rule “variable is cheaper”, the statement was not found in the OeNB averages we read (from 2023 to 2025 the short fixation was more expensive, in August 2026 the two are level); with the best rates of durchblicker.at variable is 0.14 pp cheaper. It depends on the date and on the offer.
Evidence. OeNB, loan rates, new business; durchblicker.at, loan rates; AK Vienna, mortgage comparison, January 2025. The full references are in the sources block below.
What there is. The best 12-month fixed-deposit rate in the ranking of sparzinsen.at stood at 3.00% gross on 7 Oct 2026 (among offers with simplified tax handling), the average of all 65 offers at 2.34%. The OeNB statistics give for August 2026 an average of 2.15% for new deposits of private households of up to 1 year and 0.45% for overnight deposits. Inflation was 3.2% in August 2026 according to Statistics Austria and 3.6% in September according to the flash estimate. After 25% capital gains tax 2.25% of the best offer remains.
What the figures do not show. The statement applies to this reference date and to deposits; promotional rates for new customers, bonds, shares and other investments were not checked. Consumer prices are an average across all households; personal inflation can differ. The figures do not say what it will look like in a year.
Rating. Well documented for the reference date: the portal offers and the OeNB statistics, independently of each other, are below officially measured inflation.
Evidence. sparzinsen.at; OeNB, deposit rates, new business; Statistics Austria, inflation August 2026; Statistics Austria, inflation September 2026, flash estimate; Federal Ministry of Finance, taxation of domestic investment income; Income Tax Act 1988, section 27a. The full references are in the sources block below.
What there is. The number of residential property purchases fell by 28.2% in 2023 (Statistics Austria; the OeNB gives 27.0% on a different definition), rose by 8.6% in 2024 and by 18.3% in 2025, according to Statistics Austria the strongest rise in transactions in more than a decade. Chained, the index stands at 92.2 in 2025 (2022 = 100; our calculation from three provisional rates). The volume of new housing loans fell from €23.20 billion (2022) to €10.44 billion (2023), rose to €11.34 billion (2024) and €16.69 billion (2025) and was thus in 2025 below 2021 (€25.70 billion) and 2022 but above 2023. For H1 2026 portals give €9.50 billion; that is a half-year, and we did not find the half-year a year earlier.
What the figures do not show. Purchases and loans measure what was completed, not what buyers wanted. Why fewer were completed, the figures do not say: whether buyers waited, whether loans were too expensive, or whether the rules of the KIM regulation (until 30 Jun 2025) stood in the way. We claim no cause. The purchases for 2023 to 2025 are provisional rates of change including an estimate for late reports; we read part of the loan volumes through portals that reproduce OeNB figures.
Rating. Partly documented: for 2023 a sharp slump is well documented; since 2024 purchases and loans have risen again without reaching the levels of 2021 and 2022.
Evidence. Statistics Austria, house price index 2023; Statistics Austria, house price index 2024; Statistics Austria, house price index 2025; OeNB, Austrian property data, Q1 2024; OeNB, Statistiken H1/24; OeNB, handout of 20 March 2026; Infina, volume of new housing loans; Infina, property price guide; ORF.at, housing loans 2023. The full references are in the sources block below.
What there is. We did not find a statistic that measures how many owners do not offer or do not sell their flat (web search, no specialist database). There are only indirect approximations: the number of listings of flats on ImmoScout24 was, according to two media reports, 10% above the previous year in H1 2026, and demand on the portal rose by 17% in 2025. Purchases rose by 18.3% in 2025 (Statistics Austria).
What the figures do not show. More listings are no counter-proof: they show what is offered and not what owners hold back. One portal does not cover the whole market, the figures come from this one portal only and only from media reports. Purchases, too, say something about sellers only indirectly.
Rating. Popular model: the statement is classed as a popular model because we found no measurement that supports or refutes it. This is a provisional rating and no judgement on whether there is something in it.
Evidence. news.at, property prices in H1 2026; leadersnet.at, prices and supply in H1 2026; ImmoScout24, condominium data analysis; Statistics Austria, house price index 2025. The full references are in the sources block below.
What there is. According to Statistics Austria 31,979 dwellings in new buildings were permitted in 2025 (−7.1% on 2024), the lowest since the survey began in 2010 and 56.0% fewer than in 2017 (our calculation). In 2024 41,762 dwellings were completed, 20.2% fewer than the year before; in 2021 it was 62,091. Two separate series, permits and completions, show the same direction.
What the figures do not show. The values of recent years are provisional and are reported late (for 2024, 32,100 permitted dwellings were reported first, later 34,422). For 2025 we did not find a figure for completions. Whether it is “too few” is a judgement and not a measurement; we claim no connection with prices.
Rating. Well documented: official statistics, two series, the same direction. The statement is limited here to “fewer than a few years ago”.
Evidence. Statistics Austria, building permits 2025; Statistics Austria, completions 2024. The full references are in the sources block below.
What there is. The measures do not all point in the same direction. The median share of housing costs (including energy, credit costs and maintenance) in disposable household income was 15% in 2025 after 16% in 2015; for 8% of households it was above 40% (1.0 pp less than in 2024; Statistics Austria, EU-SILC). Buying has become more expensive: according to the page of the Momentum Institute (2024), saving would take 54 instead of 41 years (assumptions according to the retrieval: 9.5% of disposable income saved, 2% interest, median household income); the title speaks of up to 3 annual incomes more than 23 years ago. A flat of 70 m² at the median price costs 5.7 times (Austria) and 7.1 times (Vienna) the median household net income (our calculation, 2025). According to media reports on the OeNB press release, affordability improved slightly in 2025 because prices fell in real terms and incomes rose.
What the figures do not show. The housing cost share is a median across all households and forms of housing (tenants, owners, cooperatives) and says nothing about prospective buyers; here it has only two points in time. The price-to-income figure has no series, and for Vienna the Austrian income is used. How much equity someone has, none of the figures shows. We know the OeNB’s statements only from the media.
Rating. Partly documented: in favour of the statement is the calculation of the Momentum Institute on saving for a purchase; against it speak the housing cost share, which did not rise from 2015 to 2025 (16% and 15%), and the OeNB finding (second-hand) that affordability improved slightly in 2025. What is meant decides the result: buying, renting or running housing costs.
Evidence. Statistics Austria, press conference Housing 2025; Statistics Austria, housing situation and housing costs 2025, press release; Statistics Austria, housing costs web page; Momentum Institute, home ownership, 2024; Statistics Austria, average property prices 2025; Statistics Austria, household income, EU-SILC 2025; ORF.at, 29 January 2026: OeNB on residential property prices in 2025; leadersnet.at, 29 January 2026: OeNB analysis of residential property prices. The full references are in the sources block below.
What there is. The average existing main rent including operating costs rose, by the annual rates of Statistics Austria, from €7.10 per m² (2015, our chain) to €10.15 (2025; published €10.2), that is +43.0% against +38.8% for consumer prices, +3.0% in real terms. From 2022 to 2025 rents rose by 17.3%, consumer prices by 14.9%. In Q2 2026 the rate was +3.3% on the same quarter a year earlier; Statistics Austria writes that the momentum has eased. The rents sub-index of the consumer price index rose by 4.4% in August 2026. Listings ask clearly more: in Q1 2026 the median was €16.09 (Austria) and €22.41 (Vienna) gross, according to the source 8% and 10% more than a year earlier.
What the figures do not show. The average of all existing rents mixes old and new contracts (30 years and longer: €6.5, contracts under 2 years: €12.4, per m² including operating costs, 2025). The two measurements of rents differ: the sub-index rose by 4.4% in August 2026, the average by 3.3% in Q2 2026. Since 1 Jan 2026 the Mieten-Wertsicherungsgesetz limits the adjustment of existing contracts. The listings come from one portal and are offers, not rents paid.
Rating. Partly documented: existing rents rose over ten years by about as much as prices overall (+3.0% in real terms), asking rents are clearly higher and rose faster lately; “sharply” depends on which rent is meant.
Evidence. Statistics Austria, flat rents Q2 2026; Statistics Austria, flat rents Q4 2025; Statistics Austria, housing situation and housing costs 2025, press release; Statistics Austria, press conference Housing 2025; Statistics Austria, inflation August 2026; ImmoScout24, rents Q1 2026; forum-media.at, Rent Indexation Act section 1; Parliament, committee report on the 5th MILG. The full references are in the sources block below.
What there is. The KIM regulation was in force from July 2022 (according to the FMA) or the beginning of August 2022 (according to ORF) until 30 June 2025 and required at least 20% own funds, at most 40% of net income as the repayment ratio and at most 35 years of term. Since it expired, circular 02/2025 of the FMA of 26 Jun 2025 applies: loan-to-value ratio of at most 90%, guideline for the debt-service ratio 40%, term of at most 35 years. By its own statement it is not a regulation, and the FMA expects the values to be met for at least 80% of new loans.
What the figures do not show. Whether banks in practice still demand 20% own funds we did not find documented in any page we opened; they may be stricter. What the loan-to-value ratio refers to (purchase price, purchase price plus ancillary costs or lending value) is not stated in the short versions we read. This is a summary and not legal advice; for an individual case the wording counts.
Rating. Refuted for today (proposal): until 30 Jun 2025 the statement was correct; since then it is no longer a rule. As a statement about the practice of banks it is neither documented nor refuted.
Evidence. FMA, residential real estate loans; FMA, circular 02/2025; FMA, press release of 26 June 2025; FMA, explanation of the calculations, 17 Nov 2025; ORF.at, KIM Regulation, December 2024. The full references are in the sources block below.
What there is. According to oesterreich.gv.at (Federal Ministry of Justice, pages as of 1 August 2026) the property transfer tax is as a rule 3.5%, the registration of ownership 1.1% and that of a mortgage 1.2% of the loan, plus a filing fee of €85; drawing up the contract costs roughly 1 to 3%, the estate agent’s commission at most 3% plus 20% VAT. For 70 m² at the 2025 median price (€291,340) with a 90% loan this gives, with a contract at 2%, an agent at 3.6% and bank fees (example values), €35,915 or 12.3%. Without an agent and with a contract at 1% it would be 7.7%, with an agent and a contract at 3% 13.3% (our calculation).
What the figures do not show. The bank’s rates (1% processing, €345 valuation) are example values and not figures given by a bank. Not included are the land-register extract, certification, escrow and insurance; the mortgage is calculated on the loan alone and is therefore a lower limit. A temporary exemption from the registration fees expired on 30 Jun 2026 according to a law firm’s briefing and a bank; whether it was extended we did not check.
Rating. Simplifying: as an order of magnitude a tenth is plausible; the share varies by several percentage points with the agent, the contract and the size of the loan.
Evidence. oesterreich.gv.at, ancillary costs of buying a flat; oesterreich.gv.at, registration; oesterreich.gv.at, buying a flat; Forvis Mazars Legal, fee waiver until 30 Jun 2026; Raiffeisen Vorarlberg, fee waiver ends on 30 June. The full references are in the sources block below.
What there is. We did not find an Austrian study that works out buying and renting for owner-occupation with open assumptions (web search, no specialist database). With its default settings (70 m², 90% loan at 3.61%, growth in value and rent increase of 3.3% a year, investment at 2.25% net) the model in this chapter shows buying ahead by €132,267 after 20 years, break-even after 8 years and 9 months. The result flips, however, at a growth in value below 1.66% a year (with no growth in value renting is ahead by €97,180 after 20 years) and over a period of 5 years (renting ahead by €24,407). These are results from the model and not measurements. The long-run returns of residential property in Jordà et al. (16 countries, 1870 to 2015, Austria not among them) are about 7% a year in real terms including rental income.
What the figures do not show. The model knows neither risk nor taxes on gains from a sale, property tax, subsidies, vacancy or moving costs; it compares a safe investment at 2.25% net with a flat whose value can fluctuate. Whether the flat rises in value as fast as inflation is an open question. The long-run return from the literature is a mean across 16 countries and 145 years and does not compare owner-occupation with renting. The studies we opened on neighbouring topics (investment flats, housing costs, affordability, gross yields) do not compare buying and renting.
Rating. Popular model: “always” contradicts the model itself. What remains is a result under assumptions that depends on growth in value, period and return.
Evidence. ECB, Working Paper 2087, Fatica and Prammer 2017; ECB, Statistics Paper 47; Jordà et al. 2019; Jordà et al. 2017, FRBSF version; AK, investment in provident flats, 2018; WU Vienna, housing costs in Austria, 2020; Momentum Institute, home ownership, 2024; Agenda Austria, property purchase and letting, 2018. The full references are in the sources block below.
What there is. We read three papers from the USA (the working papers through a retrieval tool that renders pages, not the journal versions) and none for Austria. Case and Shiller (working paper 1988, journal 1989) analysed resale prices of 39,210 homes in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas and San Francisco/Oakland from 1970 to 1986: a change in a city’s real prices tended to be followed the next year by a change in the same direction, a quarter to a half as large; for the price changes of individual homes the explanatory power was low (R² at most 0.04). In the follow-up paper (working paper 1990, four cities, quarterly data) construction cost relative to price, the change in income per head and the change in the adult population were positively related to later price changes; the explanatory power for price changes rose only modestly, to about a third (R²). Campbell et al. (2009) decomposed the ratio of rent to price in 23 US metropolitan areas from 1975 to 2007 into three components (expected rent growth, real interest rates and a housing premium); according to the abstract the housing premium is variable and forecastable and explains a significant share of the variation in the ratio.
What the figures do not show. The papers show relationships in US data up to 1987 and, for Campbell et al., up to 2007. For Austria, for the time since and for the rank of a value in a ten-year comparison, as the barometer shows it, we found nothing (web search, no specialist database). The two papers by Case and Shiller call the explanatory power for price changes low; about the situation of an individual household the papers say nothing. Whether a time is good depends on that situation (income, equity, time horizon, place of residence, the individual flat) and on a future that nobody knows. The tabs “Buying” and “Buy or rent” work this out with figures that the reader enters; they give no recommendation, and this chapter is not investment advice.
Rating. Simplifying: in the US papers we read, a small part of later price changes could be predicted from earlier data. A time that can be “read off” does not follow from that, and a test for Austria is missing.
Evidence. Case and Shiller 1989; Case and Shiller 1990; Campbell et al. 2009. The full references are in the sources block below.
The data series in the rows (prices, consumer prices, interest rates, loans, rents) are calculated from the same data tables as in the tabs “Rates and market” and “Barometer”; the data are as of 7 Oct 2026. What we did not find is in the card “What we did not find” in the tab “Rates and market”.
Labels, evidence level and reading level
Every card in this chapter carries labels at the top left. They say what kind of information the card consists of, because measurements, offers and our own calculations are not equally reliable and should not be mixed up.
| Label | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Measurement | A figure that an agency, a central bank or a statistics office measured or collected. The date, the reference base and the source are given with it. |
| Offer | What a bank or a portal offers or asks for, such as interest rate offers and listings. These are offer or advertising figures and neither prices paid nor market averages. |
| Own calculation | Calculated by us from measurements, for example adjusted for inflation or chained. The calculation is given so that it can be reproduced. |
| Model | A calculation under openly stated assumptions. The result follows from the assumptions and is neither a measurement nor a forecast. |
| Calculator | A tool in which the entries can be changed; the result changes with them. |
| Legal position | What a law, an ordinance or a circular provides, with a reference. A summary does not replace legal advice. |
| Study | The result of a scientific paper, as far as we read it. The sample, the period and the version are given. |
| Overview | A compilation or classification, not a single measurement. |
Two scales should be kept apart from these. The evidence level belongs to a statement (card “The ladder”): how well is it covered by measurements we read? The reading level belongs to a source (sources block at the end of the page): how much of it did we see, the whole text, parts, only the press release, a database query, a page that reproduces the figure, or only a search hit? The reading level says nothing about the quality of the source, only about what we saw of it. Reading was done through a retrieval tool that renders pages; important figures were compared several times, a comparison with the printed versions is still to be done.
What is left out, tab by tab
The calculators are models. Each tab says in a card what its model does and what it leaves out; this overview puts what is left out together. What is missing is in no result, and every result holds only under the assumptions of the respective card.
| Not included | Tab in which it is expressly missing |
|---|---|
| Running costs and property tax | Buying, Buy or rent |
| Maintenance and reserves | Buying |
| Tax on a gain from a sale and other tax effects | Loan, Buying, Buy or rent |
| Subsidies and housing allowance | Buying, Buy or rent |
| Building society contracts, repayment vehicles and foreign-currency loans | Loan, Buying |
| Insurance | Loan, Buying |
| Ongoing rate adjustments on a variable rate | Loan, Buy or rent |
| Fluctuations in interest rate, inflation, value and return | Saving, Buy or rent |
| Account fees, bonuses, promotional rates and minimum deposits on savings accounts | Saving |
| Vacancy, moving costs, changes in the family and the option of letting the flat | Buy or rent |
| The value that security or freedom has for the individual | Buy or rent |
| Differences in location and fittings of the individual flat; prices of individual regions other than Vienna | Barometer |
A click on the tab name leads to the card “Assumptions and check” (for the barometer to the card “What the barometer cannot do”), where what is left out is stated in its own words.
Revisions, measures and media figures: what we use and why
Anyone who reads several sources finds figures that do not agree. That is part of the matter: statistics are corrected afterwards, measures and periods differ, and media do not always reproduce figures as they stand in the source. Here are the contradictions we found while reading for this chapter, with the value we use and the reason.
| Subject | Earlier figure | Later figure | Used here |
|---|---|---|---|
| House price index (2010 = 100), annual values | 2023: 212.31 (press release of 25 March 2024), 2024: 211.16 (27 March 2025), 2025: 216.40, +2.6% (26 March 2026) | 2023: 211.68, 2024: 210.88, 2025: 216.05, +2.5% (23 September 2026) | The later values. The same year has different values in the publications; the difference is at most 0.63 index points. |
| Median price of flats in 2022, euro per m² | Austria €4,340, Vienna €5,495 (press release of 28 May 2025) | Austria €4,364, Vienna €5,516 (28 May 2026) | The later values. The press release mentions a continuing annual revision of earlier years; the difference here is at most €24 per m². |
| Dwellings approved in new buildings in 2024 | 32,100 (press release of 20 November 2025) | 34,422 (24 April 2026) | The later value. The provisional figure for 2025 (31,979) may also rise later. |
| Average rent in the microcensus, euro per m² including running costs | 2015: 7.1, 2020: 8.0, 2024: 9.8 (presentation of 6 June 2025) | 2015: 7.4, 2020: 8.3, 2024: 9.4, 2025: 10.2 (presentation of 10 June 2026) | Our own chain from the published annual rates, starting at €7.10 in 2015, giving €10.15 for 2025 (published €10.2). Starting at €7.4 the chain would reach €10.57; with €9.4 for 2024 and +4.0% one would get €9.8, not €10.2. In the earlier presentation €9.4 is given for 2023. The parts we read do not say why the editions differ. |
| Press release of 28 May 2026: price trend of flats in 2024 | According to the text, average prices for houses and flats rose in 2024 and 2025 compared with the previous year. | According to the table, the median for flats fell in 2024: Austria from €4,000 to €3,986, Vienna from €5,000 to €4,940; only houses rose. | The table. Why the text says “risen” across the board for 2024 cannot be seen from the press release. |
| Subject | One figure | Another figure | Used here |
|---|---|---|---|
| Peak of prices | Statistics Austria: house price index at a record level in the first half of 2026 (223.23). | OeNB residential property price index in Q2 2026: 274.0, which is 1.5% below the peak of 278.3 (Q3 2022); read through a portal. | Both are named. Data and methods differ (purchase contracts in the land register against the JUSTIMMO database with a regression model); that is not an error of either side. |
| Price change in 2025 | House price index +2.5% (Statistics Austria); OeNB index +2.1% (according to media reports). | +1.0% from the annual means 264.3 and 266.9 of the portal Infina, which itself gives “1.0%”. | For the series of this chapter the house price index. Why the values differ is not documented; different time references (annual average or quarterly value) are possible. |
| Fall in prices since 2022, after deducting inflation | About −16% (OeNB, Q3 2022 to the end of 2025, according to media reports). | −13.7% (our calculation, house price index, annual average 2022 to 2025). | Both are named. The anchors differ (peak quarter to year-end against annual averages). |
| Purchases in 2023 | −28.2% (Statistics Austria, number of purchases). | −27.0% (OeNB, number of transactions). | Both are named; the definition differs. For the series 2023 to 2025 Statistics Austria applies because it is available throughout. |
| Newly granted housing loans in 2022 | €23.20 billion, according to the portal Infina +10% on 2021. | OeNB: €25.70 billion (2021) and €23.20 billion (2022), that is −9.7% (our calculation). | The OeNB values; the portal’s percentage does not fit the amounts. |
| Inflation rate in 2025 | 3.6% (Statistics Austria, press release of 19 January 2026). | 3.8%, named in a media report of 29 January 2026 as a figure of Statistics Austria. | 3.6%. Why the report gives 3.8% is not documented. |
| Start of the KIM Ordinance | July 2022 (FMA page). | Early August 2022 (ORF report of 2 December 2024). | Both are named; the text of the ordinance could not be retrieved. |
How to read this. A contradiction does not mean that one page is wrong. Mostly the data, the method, the reference date or the definition differ. Where we do not know the reason, it says that it is not documented. The pages were read as of 7 October 2026; figures may change later.
Evidence. Statistics Austria, house price index 2023; Statistics Austria, house price index 2024; Statistics Austria, house price index 2025; Statistics Austria, house price index H1 2026; Statistics Austria, average property prices 2024, previous edition; Statistics Austria, average property prices 2025; Statistics Austria, completions 2024; Statistics Austria, building permits 2025; Statistics Austria, housing barometer 2025; Statistics Austria, press conference Housing 2025; Infina, property price statistics; Infina, property price guide; OeNB, residential property price index, method; ORF.at, 29 January 2026: OeNB on residential property prices in 2025; leadersnet.at, 29 January 2026: OeNB analysis of residential property prices; OeNB, Austrian property data, Q1 2024; OeNB, Statistiken H1/24; Infina, volume of new housing loans; Statistics Austria, inflation 2025; FMA, residential real estate loans; ORF.at, KIM Regulation, December 2024. The full references are in the sources block below.
This tab gives no recommendation to buy, sell, borrow or invest and is not investment advice.
The technical terms of this chapter in plain language, arranged by topic, with examples from the same data as the calculators. Each entry names the sources the explanation rests on; what we explain or calculate ourselves is marked as our own explanation. The full references of the sources are in the sources block below. An entry explains a word and gives no recommendation.
The ECB sets three key interest rates: the deposit rate, the rate on the main refinancing operations and the marginal lending rate. Since 16 Sep 2026 they have been 2.50%, 2.65% and 2.90%; the Governing Council decided on 10 Sep 2026 to raise all three by 0.25 pp. The deposit rate is the rate that banks receive for money they place with the central bank; according to the ECB it has steered its monetary policy stance since March 2024. How the key rates, Euribor and lending rates in Austria moved side by side is shown in the interest-rate history; no cause follows from that.
Evidence. ECB, key interest rates; ECB, press release of 10 September 2026.
In this chapter. Rates and market: Interest rates since 2015
A reference rate for money that banks in the euro area lend each other, with values for several maturities (the portal shows one week to twelve months). For loans with a variable rate the 3- or 6-month Euribor is usually the reference rate: borrowing rate = reference rate + margin. The rate adjustment clause in the contract says when it is adjusted, as a rule every three, six or twelve months. In a small survey by the AK Vienna (May and June 2023) the margin was 1.25% at the median. The Euribor values in this chapter come from a portal that, by its own account, publishes them with a delay of 24 hours, as the administrator EMMI requires; we have not read a page of the administrator or of the ECB on the Euribor.
Evidence. Euribor portal euribor-rates.eu; AK Vienna, loan guide, as of March 2026; AK Vienna, mortgage comparison, August 2019; AK, press release of 11 July 2023.
In this chapter. Rates and market: Interest rates since 2015 · Loan: Three offers side by side
The rate that a loan contract states: it is applied on an annual basis to the amounts drawn (HIKrG section 2 subsection 12) and can be fixed or variable. It contains only the interest; the total cost of the loan including fees is expressed by the effective annual rate. For variable loans it is made up of the reference rate and a margin. The ECB calls the rate that is actually agreed and paid the nominal rate. On average for new housing loans the borrowing rate was 3.61% in August 2026 according to the OeNB.
Evidence. Mortgage and Real Estate Credit Act, HIKrG; AK Vienna, mortgage comparison, August 2019; ECB, nominal and real interest rates; OeNB, loan rates, new business.
In this chapter. Loan: Loan calculator · Rates and market: What banks offer
The OeNB interest rate statistics separate loans that were newly agreed in a month (new business) from all loans that are still running at that time (stock). The average of the stock also contains older contracts with earlier rates. In August 2026 the average borrowing rate on new housing loans to private households in Austria was 3.61%, that of the stock 2.87%. The rates in the statistics are agreed annual rates without other costs.
Evidence. OeNB, loan rates, new business; OeNB, loan rates, outstanding amounts.
In this chapter. Rates and market: What banks offer and what is paid
Interest that itself earns interest because it is credited to the balance. The savings calculator credits the interest every month with one twelfth of the annual rate. Example without tax: €10,000 at 3% a year is worth €13,493.54 after 10 years; if the interest were not itself earning interest it would be €13,000. The difference of €493.54 is the compound interest.
Our own explanation. a rule of arithmetic; the savings calculator works by it, in addition with deposits, tax and inflation.
In this chapter. Saving: Savings calculator · Saving: Assumptions and check
The tax on investment income. On interest from savings books, current accounts and other bank deposits the special tax rate is 25%, on most other investment income 27.5%. The domestic bank withholds the tax; income tax on this income is then settled (final taxation). On application the lower tariff rate can be applied. Example: 3.00% gross is 2.25% net after 25% tax.
Evidence. Federal Ministry of Finance, taxation of domestic investment income; Income Tax Act 1988, section 27a.
In this chapter. Saving: Assumptions and check · Saving: Rate against inflation
The interest rate after deducting inflation; it shows whether money gains or loses purchasing power. The ECB writes: real interest rate = nominal interest rate minus inflation. The Bundesbank calls it the nominal rate less the current rate of inflation, alternatively the expected one. Calculated exactly it is (1 + rate) ÷ (1 + inflation) − 1; the simple difference is an approximation that hardly differs for small values. Example from the ECB page: 2.5% interest and a 3% rise in prices give −0.5% (approximation) or −0.485% (exact, our own calculation). In this chapter the real rate is calculated in hindsight, with the inflation of the same period.
Evidence. ECB, nominal and real interest rates; Bundesbank, glossary “real interest rate”. Our own explanation. the exact form is not spelled out in the pages we read; here it is our own calculation.
In this chapter. Rates and market: Fixation period and real interest rate · Saving: Rate against inflation
The inflation rate measures how much consumer prices have risen against an earlier period, usually against the previous year. Annual inflation was 2.9% in 2024 and 3.6% in 2025. In August 2026 the rate was 3.2%; the flash estimate for September 2026 gives 3.6%, provisional, and Statistics Austria announces final values for 16 Oct 2026. The consumer price index (VPI) takes into account only households living in Austria; the HICP, which is comparable across the EU and also covers spending by tourists, was 2.9% in August 2026.
Evidence. Statistics Austria, inflation 2024; Statistics Austria, inflation 2025; Statistics Austria, inflation August 2026; Statistics Austria, inflation September 2026, flash estimate. Our own explanation. the explanation of the term; the figures come from the sources named.
In this chapter. Rates and market: Prices, rents and inflation
The rate that expresses the total cost of the credit to the consumer as an annual percentage of the total amount of credit (HIKrG section 2 subsection 11). Besides interest, all costs known to the lender count, such as commissions and charges, insurance or an account where they are a condition for the loan, and the valuation of the property where it is required; notary fees and the fees for registering the transfer of ownership are excluded (section 29 subsection 2). Whether the registration of the pledge counts is not stated expressly in the text of the law. It is calculated by a formula in Annex I of the law; it sets the present value of the amounts drawn equal to the present value of all repayments and costs. In the law the equation itself is an image; we calculated its standard form ourselves.
Example (our own calculation): €200,000, 25 years, 3.5% borrowing rate give 3.557% without fees and 3.654% with a 1% processing fee. On average for new housing loans in August 2026 the effective rate was 3.97% and the borrowing rate 3.61% according to the OeNB.
Evidence. Mortgage and Real Estate Credit Act, HIKrG; HIKrG, Annex I; Directive 2014/17/EU; OeNB, loan rates, new business. Our own explanation. the examples.
In this chapter. Loan: Assumptions and check · Loan: Three offers side by side
With an annuity loan the instalment stays the same over the whole term. Besides the interest it contains parts of the capital; at the beginning the interest share is large, at the end the repayment share. The loan calculator assumes the instalment at the end of the month and works out the interest of a month as the monthly rate times the remaining debt. Example (our own calculation): €200,000, 25 years, 3.5% give an instalment of €1,001.25 a month.
Evidence. AK Vienna, loan guide, as of March 2026. Our own explanation. the formula and the example; the AK page describes the annuity in words only.
In this chapter. Loan: Loan calculator · Loan: One instalment taken apart
Repayment is the part of the instalment that reduces the capital borrowed; the remaining debt is what is still owed after an instalment. In the first month of the example (€200,000, 25 years, 3.5%) the instalment consists of €583.33 interest (monthly rate times loan) and €417.91 repayment; the remaining debt falls to €199,582.09 (amounts rounded individually, the sum can differ by one cent). Extra payments reduce the remaining debt at once; that is how the loan calculator works. If a fixation period ends before the end of the term, the remaining debt stays and continues to earn interest at a new rate.
Our own explanation. terms and example.
In this chapter. Loan: Repayment schedule · Loan: What if the rate rises?
The fixation period states how long the rate of a loan is fixed at the start. With a variable rate it is set anew regularly, as a rule every three, six or twelve months, from the reference rate plus a margin. If a fixation ends before the end of the term, a new rate applies afterwards: in the AK Vienna example (15 years fixed on a 25-year term) the loan would be at a variable rate for the remaining ten years; some banks offer a new fixation. In the OeNB statistics the row “up to 1 year” also contains the variable loans. In 2025, 86% of the newly concluded housing loans had a fixation, and at the end of 2025, 64% of the stock was at a fixed rate.
Evidence. AK Vienna, mortgage comparison, August 2020; AK Vienna, loan guide, as of March 2026; OeNB, loan rates, new business; OeNB, handout of 20 March 2026.
In this chapter. Rates and market: Fixation period and real interest rate · Buying: Rate shock
The ratio of the loan to the value of the property, in percent: the higher it is, the fewer own funds stand against the loan. Since its circular of 26 Jun 2025 the FMA recommends at most 90%; the KIM Regulation required at least 20% own funds until 30 Jun 2025. Which value is meant (purchase price, purchase price plus ancillary costs or a lending value of the bank) is not stated in the pages we read. This chapter relates the ratio to the purchase price: 20% own funds then correspond to a ratio of 80%, 10% to one of 90%.
Evidence. FMA, circular 02/2025; FMA, residential real estate loans; ORF.at, KIM Regulation, December 2024. Our own explanation. the explanation of the ratio itself; the limits come from the sources named.
In this chapter. Buying: Own funds against interest
The money a buyer puts in personally. In the buying calculator it is purchase price plus ancillary costs minus loan; the ancillary costs therefore have to be paid from own funds. Example (default of the buying calculator, our own calculation): €291,340 purchase price + €35,915 ancillary costs − €262,206 loan (90%) = €65,049. The KIM Regulation required at least 20% own funds until 30 Jun 2025.
Evidence. ORF.at, KIM Regulation, December 2024. Our own explanation. the definition in the model and the example.
In this chapter. Buying: Buying calculator · Buying: Own funds against interest
The share of net income that goes on loan instalments. The FMA gives as a guide value at most 40% of annual net income as the annual loan burden; until 30 Jun 2025 the KIM Regulation had prescribed a repayment ratio of at most 40%. In the buying calculator it is the instalment (plus other loan instalments) divided by the household’s net income; the limit can be set there.
Evidence. FMA, residential real estate loans; FMA, circular 02/2025; ORF.at, KIM Regulation, December 2024.
In this chapter. Buying: What can I afford? · Buying: Rate shock
The KIM Regulation (Kreditinstitute-Immobilienfinanzierungsmaßnahmen-Verordnung) laid down binding standards for housing loans: at least 20% own funds, a repayment ratio of at most 40%, a term of at most 35 years. According to the FMA page it was in force from July 2022 to 30 Jun 2025 (the ORF gives early August 2022). It was replaced by FMA circular 02/2025 of 26 Jun 2025, which by its own account is not a regulation: loan-to-value ratio of at most 90%, guide value of 40% for the debt service ratio, term of at most 35 years; a limited share of new lending may deviate from this. Both are addressed to the banks, not to borrowers. Whether banks in practice still ask for 20% own funds is not documented in any source we read.
Evidence. FMA, residential real estate loans; FMA, circular 02/2025; FMA, press release of 26 June 2025; ORF.at, KIM Regulation, December 2024.
In this chapter. Buying: Own funds against interest · What holds up: row on the KIM Regulation
On top of the purchase price there are taxes, fees and charges. Fixed by law are the real estate transfer tax (as a rule 3.5% of the purchase price), the registration of title in the land register (1.1% of the value of the right, for purchase contracts as a rule the purchase price), the registration of a pledge for the loan (1.2% of the nominal amount of the claim including the security for ancillary charges) and the filing fee (€85 per application). Drawing up the contract and the broker’s commission are ranges or maximum rates. A temporary exemption from the registration fees was, according to the pages we read, limited to 30 Jun 2026; whether it was extended we have not checked, the buying calculator works without an exemption. In the example of the buying calculator (€291,340 purchase price, 90% loan, contract 2%, broker 3.6%, bank fees as example values) the costs come to €35,915, which is 12.3% of the purchase price (our own calculation).
Evidence. oesterreich.gv.at, ancillary costs of buying a flat; oesterreich.gv.at, registration; oesterreich.gv.at, buying a flat; Forvis Mazars Legal, fee waiver until 30 Jun 2026; Raiffeisen Vorarlberg, fee waiver ends on 30 June. Our own explanation. the example.
In this chapter. Buying: Ancillary costs in detail
A standard method for comparing owning and renting: the expected annual costs of living in an owned home are set against the annual costs of an equivalent rented flat (imputed rent). The costs include the financing, that is loan interest and the foregone return on the equity put in (opportunity cost), upkeep and depreciation, and property tax; the expected rise in value is deducted. The “Buy or rent” tab works this way, without property tax. Example of the default in the first year (our own calculation, per month, rounded to whole euros): €789 interest + €122 foregone return + €243 upkeep − €801 gain in value = €352; the sum is formed from unrounded values, so the rounded items can differ by €1. The result depends on the assumptions, above all on the gain in value (here 3.3% a year).
Evidence. ECB, Working Paper 2087, Fatica and Prammer 2017; ECB, Statistics Paper 47. Our own explanation. the example and the account of what the calculator reproduces of it.
In this chapter. Buy or rent: Assumptions and check · Buy or rent: What housing costs per month
The annual gain in value of the flat at which buying and renting give the same wealth at the end of the period. The calculator in the “Buy or rent” tab finds it by trial: with the defaults it is 1.66% a year. Below it renting is ahead, above it buying; at 1.6% by €4,151, at 1.7% by €2,692. The value follows from the assumptions (loan, rate, rent, investment, duration) and is not a forecast.
Our own explanation. term and calculation; the figures are the result of the defaults.
In this chapter. Buy or rent: What would have to be true?
How many annual rents one square metre costs: median purchase price per m² divided by twelve monthly rents per m² (also called the multiplier). For Austria in 2025: €4,162 ÷ (12 × €10.15) = 34.2. The inverse, 2.9%, would correspond to a gross rental yield; because the rent here includes operating costs that do not flow to the owner, it is overstated. We found a gross rental yield for Austria in no source we read (web search, no specialist database). The figure compares price and rent in the stock and says nothing about individual flats.
Evidence. Statistics Austria, average property prices 2025; Statistics Austria, flat rents Q4 2025. Our own explanation. the figure and the calculation; the rent is the chain of microcensus rates including operating costs.
In this chapter. Barometer: Purchase price to annual rent
Two terms from tenancy law. The guideline rent is a basic amount per m² and month fixed by law, which Statistics Austria only announces; it applies to rental contracts within the scope of the Guideline Rent Act (13.4% of main-residence rentals, in Vienna 21.0%, Q4 2025) and is not a market rent. Since 1 Apr 2026 it has been €6.74 per m² in Vienna (before: €6.67; +1%). Indexation adjusts the rent to inflation; since 1 Jan 2026 it may take effect only once a year on 1 April, and inflation above 3% counts only by half (Rent Indexation Act, Mieten-Wertsicherungsgesetz, our translation); for price-protected rents a maximum of 1% on 1 April 2026 and 2% on 1 April 2027 also applies. This is a summary and not legal advice; for a contract the wording of the law counts.
Evidence. Statistics Austria, guideline rents and category amounts; Statistics Austria, flat rents Q4 2025; Statistics Austria, flat rents Q2 2026; forum-media.at, Rent Indexation Act section 1; Parliament, committee report on the 5th MILG. Our own explanation. the sentence on indexation as an adjustment to inflation.
In this chapter. Rates and market: Rents, paid and asked
The middle value of a series ordered by size: one half of the values lies below, the other above. A median is hardly moved by outliers, an average is. Example (invented, for practice): for prices of €2,000, €3,000, €3,500, €4,000 and €9,000 per m² the median is €3,500, the average €4,300. Statistics Austria gives the purchase prices per m² for each year as a median (2025: €4,162 for flats in Austria); it is not quality-adjusted, and earlier years are revised continuously. For price comparisons over time a quality-adjusted price index is better suited, according to Statistics Austria.
Evidence. Statistics Austria, average property prices 2025. Our own explanation. the explanation of the term and the invented example.
In this chapter. Rates and market: Prices, rents and inflation · What holds up: prices over ten years
The official price index for residential property in Austria. Statistics Austria calculates it from the purchase contracts of private buyers deposited in the land register, adjusted for differences in the quality of the objects sold (quality-adjusted), and publishes it as a chain index with annually adjusted weights; the latest quarters are provisional. In the first half of 2026 it stood at 223.23 (2010 = 100), +3.9% on the same period a year earlier; in the second quarter of 2026 it was for the first time above the previous peak of the third quarter of 2022. The index is nominal and says nothing about the prices asked in listings today.
Evidence. Statistics Austria, house price index H1 2026; Statistics Austria, house price index 2025.
In this chapter. Rates and market: Prices, rents and inflation · Rates and market: Prices by quarter
The OeNB calculates a residential property price index of its own (2000 = 100) on the basis of the euro price per square metre using generalised additive models; according to the page the data come from the JUSTIMMO platform (from the third quarter of 2017), not from the purchase contracts in the land register as with the house price index. The two indices are therefore not identical. In addition the OeNB reports a fundamental price indicator: the percentage deviation of residential property prices from a fundamental price that is made up of seven sub-indicators. A value above zero means that prices are above this model value. Latest values found: Austria 20.0%, Vienna 28.9% (2023); we did not find newer values.
Evidence. OeNB, residential property price index, method; OeNB, Austrian property data, Q1 2024; OeNB, factsheet on the residential property market, time series.
In this chapter. Barometer: More quantities and the Nationalbank
An asking price is what a seller asks in a listing; a purchase price is what was paid according to the purchase contract. The two measure different things and must not be mixed. The median of the listings on ImmoScout24 was €6,041 per m² in Austria in 2025, 1.45 times the median purchase price (€4,162); in Vienna €6,636 against €5,212, 1.27 times (our own calculation). The populations differ: listings on one portal against all purchases by private buyers according to the land register.
Evidence. ImmoScout24, condominium data analysis; Statistics Austria, average property prices 2025.
In this chapter. Rates and market: What is asked and what is paid · What holds up: row on listings
A continuing sample survey in which Statistics Austria questions about 20,000 households per quarter. The rents from it describe what is actually paid for existing main-residence rentals (all legal forms, including municipal and cooperative flats), not what listings ask for flats that are being let anew. “Rent including operating costs” is the rent paid to the property manager excluding heating, hot water and garage, including VAT; the net rent is the pure rent including VAT, without operating costs. In the second quarter of 2026 it was €10.5 per m² and month including operating costs and €7.9 net rent.
Evidence. Statistics Austria, flat rents Q2 2026; Statistics Austria, flat rents Q4 2025; Statistics Austria, housing situation and housing costs 2025, press release.
In this chapter. Rates and market: Rents, paid and asked
EU-SILC is the survey behind the key figures on household income on the Statistics Austria page (here EU-SILC 2025, published on 29 Apr 2026). Household income is the disposable income after taxes and social security contributions: earned income, investment income, pensions and benefits of all household members. The median is €51,152 a year for private households. Equivalised income divides it by weights of the EU scale (first person 1.0, each further person 0.5, children under 14 years 0.3); its median is €36,546 a year.
Evidence. Statistics Austria, household income, EU-SILC 2025. Our own explanation. the purpose of equivalised income (making households of different size comparable) is our own explanation.
In this chapter. Buying: What can I afford?
The share of housing costs (including energy, loan costs and upkeep) in disposable household income. The median in 2025 was 15%, for owner-occupied flats 12%; for 8% of households the ratio was above 40%. The median applies to all households and forms of housing and says nothing about prospective buyers. For 2015 the evidence ladder gives 16%; we read that figure only from a press report.
Evidence. Statistics Austria, press conference Housing 2025; Statistics Austria, housing situation and housing costs 2025, press release.
In this chapter. What holds up: row on affordability
An approved flat is one for which the authority has permitted construction; a completed one is built. Statistics Austria counts both from the buildings and dwellings register kept by the building authorities, here for flats in new buildings. In 2025, 31,979 flats were approved, the lowest figure since the survey began in 2010; in 2024, 41,762 were completed. The figures of the latest years are provisional and include estimates for late reports: for 2024, 32,100 approved flats were first reported and later 34,422. Permits say something about the later supply, not about the price.
Evidence. Statistics Austria, building permits 2025; Statistics Austria, completions 2024. Our own explanation. the explanation of “approved” and “completed”.
In this chapter. Rates and market: Purchases, loans and construction
Many figures are provisional when first published and are revised later. For the house price index the latest quarters are provisional; for the average prices, earlier years are revised continuously; the building permits of the latest years include estimates for late reports (2024: first 32,100, later 34,422); for inflation in September 2026 only the flash estimate is available. Rates and ranks can therefore change without anything changing in the market, and figures from different publications sometimes do not fit together exactly.
Evidence. Statistics Austria, house price index H1 2026; Statistics Austria, average property prices 2025; Statistics Austria, building permits 2025; Statistics Austria, inflation September 2026, flash estimate.
In this chapter. What holds up: Where sources contradict each other
A percentage point (pp) is the distance between two percentages. If a rate rises from 2.25% to 2.50%, that is a rise of 0.25 pp; relative to the old value it is 11.1%. A basis point is one hundredth of a percentage point: 0.25 pp is 25 basis points, which is how the ECB describes the increase of September 2026 in its press release. The chapter gives distances between interest rates in pp.
Evidence. ECB, press release of 10 September 2026. Our own explanation. the explanation of the terms and the calculation.
Nominal values are sums of money of the time in question; real (inflation-adjusted) values are converted to a common price basis with consumer prices. The chapter works in real terms by dividing by a chain of the annual inflation rates. Example: the median purchase price of flats in Austria rose from 2015 to 2025 by +50.3% in nominal terms and by +8.3% in real terms; consumer prices rose by 38.8% over the same period.
Evidence. Statistics Austria, average property prices 2025; Statistics Austria, press conference Housing 2025; Statistics Austria, press conference Housing 2023; Statistics Austria, inflation 2025; Statistics Austria, inflation 2024. Our own explanation. the explanation of the terms and the calculation.
In this chapter. Rates and market: Prices, rents and inflation · What holds up: prices after deducting inflation
The square of the correlation: in the simple linear model the share of the differences in one quantity that another explains statistically. R² = 0.04 means 4%; it is no proof of a cause. In this chapter R² appears in the US studies by Case and Shiller (at most 0.04 for the price changes of individual houses, about a third in the follow-up study). A fuller explanation is in the chapter “Attachment”, tab “Glossary”, under “Explained share”.
Evidence. Case and Shiller 1989; Case and Shiller 1990. Our own explanation. the explanation of R².
In this chapter. What holds up: row on price persistence
In the barometer every key figure shows where the latest value lies among the comparison values of the last ten (or five) years. The rank counts from the top: rank 1 is the largest value in the comparison; it is the number of comparison values that are larger than the latest value, plus 1. The range divides the comparison values into halves, thirds or quarters: a value is in the upper range if only few comparison values lie above it. Example: the median price per square metre in Austria (€4,162 in 2025) is at rank 2 of 10, because only the value of 2022 (€4,364) is above it. The rank describes a position in the window chosen; it says nothing about how a value will develop.
Our own explanation. the explanation of the terms; the counting rule is in the “Barometer” tab.
In this chapter. Barometer: The picture in ten key figures · Barometer: What the barometer cannot do
The “What holds up” tab rates statements on five evidence levels: well documented, partly documented, simplifying, popular model, refuted. The levels are a proposal of this chapter; they apply to the statement as it is worded in the row and to the period named. In addition the cards carry labels: Measurement (measured by a body), Offer (what a bank or a listing asks), Own calculation, Model, Study, Legal position, Overview and Calculator. The reading levels in the sources block at the end of the page, by contrast, say how much of a source was read.
Our own explanation. the ratings and labels are our interpretation.
In this chapter. What holds up: The ladder · What holds up: How information is labelled
This tab explains terms. It gives no recommendation to buy, sell, borrow or invest and is not investment advice.