4 ms·

So a hundred years ago the city imposed crazy taxes on land owners and then bought the land for themselves. Then the city built a lot of housing on the now city

So a hundred years ago the city imposed crazy taxes on land owners and then bought the land for themselves. Then the city built a lot of housing on the now city-owned land via non-profit construction. The article doesn’t make a strong attempt to explain how their housing affordability is “solved” though. How easy it to find a new apartment to rent? How much does it cost? What do you get for that price? How does this compare to other cities in Europe? How does Vienna compare to other Austrian cities which did not buy up land? It’s an interesting case study and I’d love to know more. But this article leaves a LOT of open questions.

phaer 6y ago
It's generally comparatively easy to find a flat here. Rents are low compared to most other cities of its size in central Europe, but rose by quite a lot in the last two decades. I pay about 650€ per month for a 1-bedroom-apartment in central Vienna, with good infrastructure Hard to compare it to other Austrian cities, because those are generally much smaller (but can be more expensive than Vienna(.
jeffbee 6y ago
Objectively, Vienna's housing price index is up 75% in real terms since 1990. While that's not the ideal 0%, it is much better than San Francisco where prices have gone up by 400% since 1990.
- forrestthewoods 6y ago
  SF is an economics lesson on what not to do. Complete and catastrophic failure across the board. Low prices don’t mean much if there is no market availability. Many cities that are heavily rent controlled have horror stories of year long waits to get a unit. Or, far worse, black markets where controlled units exchange hands privately. The other responder to my comment suggests this is not the case in Vienna, nice! The laws of supply and demand can not be defeated. Vienna is a desirable city, so there should be demand. If the city has found a way to produce sufficient supply that’s interesting. Most major cities, including SF, have completely failed to produce sufficient supply.
  - dragonwriter 6y ago
    > Low prices don’t mean much if there is no market availability. Many cities that are heavily rent controlled have horror stories of year long waits to get a unit. That's not an accident or paradox: rent control is a deliberate, conscious choice to prefer cost control for current residents over availability for new residents.
  - ajsnigrutin 6y ago
    San francisco is also a building project that noone understands... Instead of building large apartment buildings, they build single family houses.
Irishsteve 6y ago
A family member moved there recently so anecdotal. To find an apartment was easy in their case (4-5 days) the total cost is similar to Berlin and about 50% the price of Dublin.
masswerk 6y ago
Small correction: More like, city imposes a variety of luxury taxes dedicated to fill the gap left by private businesses in providing homes. While the public building program never made up a major share of the total, it still provided housing to the poor and working class and also provided a base line for the market.
haspok 6y ago
When you rent you usually do it via a Makler (real estate agent), who is going to ask for 2 months of rent as his/her fee. This is not the deposit, which is usually 3 months, and not the first month rent, this money is gone forever. So people tend to rent on the longer term, 5-10 years easily, because you have to have about 6 months of rent in cash available just to start. Which sucks if you find a job somewhere else, or just choose badly and it turns out the neighbours are loud, or the house is a sh*tty concrete building with paper walls built in the 50s... If you are very lucky or have connections, you can rent privately, and then you don't have to pay the Makler. But the number of apartments available like this is very low, I'd say <10%. I moved here from the UK, and while the UK (especially London) has its problems, I would choose that system _any time_ over what's here in Vienna. To add insult to injury, the housing prices are sky-high, almost as bad as in London, while the salaries are much lower. So buying an apartment is not really an option unless you can sell another one, or get some support from family. On the other hand, my wife lost her job, and for the first 5 months or so she gets more than 50% of her salary as Arbeitslosengeld. So that offsets the extremely high taxes a bit.
- em-bee 6y ago
  in austria (and germany) buying a house or an apartment is considered a luxury. if your income is low and you need financial support from the government then you need to first liquidate any nonessential assets, which includes any house or apartment you own.

phaer 6y ago

It's generally comparatively easy to find a flat here. Rents are low compared to most other cities of its size in central Europe, but rose by quite a lot in the last two decades. I pay about 650€ per month for a 1-bedroom-apartment in central Vienna, with good infrastructure Hard to compare it to other Austrian cities, because those are generally much smaller (but can be more expensive than Vienna(.

jeffbee 6y ago

Objectively, Vienna's housing price index is up 75% in real terms since 1990. While that's not the ideal 0%, it is much better than San Francisco where prices have gone up by 400% since 1990.

forrestthewoods 6y ago
SF is an economics lesson on what not to do. Complete and catastrophic failure across the board. Low prices don’t mean much if there is no market availability. Many cities that are heavily rent controlled have horror stories of year long waits to get a unit. Or, far worse, black markets where controlled units exchange hands privately. The other responder to my comment suggests this is not the case in Vienna, nice! The laws of supply and demand can not be defeated. Vienna is a desirable city, so there should be demand. If the city has found a way to produce sufficient supply that’s interesting. Most major cities, including SF, have completely failed to produce sufficient supply.
- dragonwriter 6y ago
  > Low prices don’t mean much if there is no market availability. Many cities that are heavily rent controlled have horror stories of year long waits to get a unit. That's not an accident or paradox: rent control is a deliberate, conscious choice to prefer cost control for current residents over availability for new residents.
- ajsnigrutin 6y ago
  San francisco is also a building project that noone understands... Instead of building large apartment buildings, they build single family houses.

Irishsteve 6y ago

A family member moved there recently so anecdotal. To find an apartment was easy in their case (4-5 days) the total cost is similar to Berlin and about 50% the price of Dublin.

masswerk 6y ago

Small correction: More like, city imposes a variety of luxury taxes dedicated to fill the gap left by private businesses in providing homes. While the public building program never made up a major share of the total, it still provided housing to the poor and working class and also provided a base line for the market.

haspok 6y ago

When you rent you usually do it via a Makler (real estate agent), who is going to ask for 2 months of rent as his/her fee. This is not the deposit, which is usually 3 months, and not the first month rent, this money is gone forever. So people tend to rent on the longer term, 5-10 years easily, because you have to have about 6 months of rent in cash available just to start. Which sucks if you find a job somewhere else, or just choose badly and it turns out the neighbours are loud, or the house is a sh*tty concrete building with paper walls built in the 50s... If you are very lucky or have connections, you can rent privately, and then you don't have to pay the Makler. But the number of apartments available like this is very low, I'd say <10%. I moved here from the UK, and while the UK (especially London) has its problems, I would choose that system _any time_ over what's here in Vienna. To add insult to injury, the housing prices are sky-high, almost as bad as in London, while the salaries are much lower. So buying an apartment is not really an option unless you can sell another one, or get some support from family. On the other hand, my wife lost her job, and for the first 5 months or so she gets more than 50% of her salary as Arbeitslosengeld. So that offsets the extremely high taxes a bit.

em-bee 6y ago
in austria (and germany) buying a house or an apartment is considered a luxury. if your income is low and you need financial support from the government then you need to first liquidate any nonessential assets, which includes any house or apartment you own.