It will take longer in future for Austrians to be able to fulfill their dream of owning their own home, because the European Central Bank is tightening the reins on real estate loans. As reported, from the middle of the year there will be stricter requirements regarding the equity ratio, the amount of the loan installment and the term of the financing. “Of course, this topic also concerns the housing developers,” said Mario Zoidl, chairman of the real estate and asset trustees in the Upper Austrian Chamber of Commerce, today, Wednesday, at a virtual press conference in Linz: “It may be that people stay longer in their rented apartments or the like have to stay and can only change ownership later.”
On Wednesday, Zoidl presented data on new residential construction in Upper Austria together with the chairman of the association of non-profit building associations, Robert Oberleitner, and representatives of the developer database “Exploreal”: 1,200 projects with around 30,500 residential units were evaluated. Around 3800 residential units were recorded in detail.
5890 residential units were completed in 2021. 5,200 completions are expected this year. A residential unit has an average floor space of 75 square meters (that is a decrease of 1.9 square meters compared to the previous year). The majority of new construction takes place in and around the state capital Linz: in relation to the number of inhabitants, most apartments are being built in Wels and Wels-Land.
It is interesting how the sizes of apartments are changing: Six percent more one- to two-room apartments are being built, while there are six percent fewer apartments with at least four rooms. “One reason for this development is that you have to be able to afford an apartment,” said Oberleitner. In addition, the demand for investor apartments is rising sharply. The increase in single households also plays a role.
Only with free space
In fact, all of the 3,800 residential units analyzed in more detail would have an open space, said Alexander Bosak (Exploreal): Without open spaces such as balconies, terraces, loggias or gardens, it would be difficult to find apartments.
While in Vienna (68 percent) and Graz (72 percent) the proportion of commercial property developers clearly outweighs that of non-profit property developers, they balance each other out in Upper Austria at 50 percent: Commercial property developers are only slightly more present in the districts of Gmunden and Vöcklabruck .
Source: Nachrichten
