Vienna International Real Estate Market and Property News

ÖBAG: Attorney Edith Hlawati to Succeed Thomas Schmid

The Supervisory Board of Österreichische Beteiligungs AG (ÖBAG) has appointed the internationally recognized business lawyer Dr. Edith Hlawati as the new Chief Executive Officer of ÖBAG. She will succeed Thomas Schmid and take over the management of the state holding on 1 February 2022. Learn more about her and the selection process.

August 30, 2021

Real Estate: Property Becoming Increasingly Expensive in Austria

Real Estate prices continue to rise in Austria despite the COVID-19 pandemic. While the property market is becoming increasingly expensive, rents in Vienna remain fairly affordable. Learn the new cost of buying property in Austria and how it compares with the rest of Europe.

August 5, 2021

Building Permits in Vienna Reach Record Levels in 2021

In positive news for the construction industry, reports show that building permits in Vienna have reached record levels in the first quarter of 2021. They also show an interesting trend in Lower Austria.

July 16, 2021

Arab Ambassadors in Vienna and Economic Relations between their Countries and Austria

The Ambassadors from Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Tunisia, and the UAE to Austria provided an economic overview of their countries and their relationship with Austria in an online forum with the Austro-Arab Chamber of Commerce (AACC).

July 11, 2021

Austrian Residential Property Market: Prices Continue to Rise

The real estate market in Austria continues to boom. Last year again surpassed the record set the year before, with both sales and the value of properties sold continuing to rise in 2020 compared with 2019. The most expensive district outside Vienna remains Kitzbühel in Tyrol. Housing prices in a five-year comparison: Austria: +26%, Vienna: +21%, Burgenland: +47%, Vorarlberg: +45%, Carinthia: +18%. Find out how the Austrian real estate market works.

April 28, 2021

Two of Austrian Biggest Commercial Real Estate Companies Could Turn to One

The Austrian commercial real estate company Immofinanz AG has decided to make a voluntary public takeover offer for the s Immo AG. The two companies have considered a merger in the past, but the intentions never succeeded. Whether or not the public takeover offer will be going through this time depends on the General Meeting of s Immo and antitrust approvals.

March 18, 2021

Austria's Real Estate: Single-Family Houses Expensive, Offices Cheap

Also as a result of the Covid-19 crisis, living spaces with a garden, a balcony or a terrace see a significant increase in demand, while office spaces and other commercial real estate loses value. Another new aspect of the real estate market in Austria is the rise in demand for single-family houses in the outskirts of bigger cities.

January 5, 2021

Investor Survey: Vienna Among Top 3 Locations for Real Estate Investments

Despite the Covid-19 crisis, Vienna is still one of the most attractive European metropolises for real estate investments. According to a recent survey among investors, London, Berlin and Vienna make up the Top 3 locations in which real estate is highly sought.

October 19, 2020

Increase of Budget for Investment Subsidies to EUR 2 Billion

The Austrian Government has announced a budget increase for investment subsidies. A high demand and investment volume in the first three weeks of the application period has lead to this decision that is welcomed by the Federal Chamber of Commerce.

September 23, 2020

Foreign Trade Has Partially Recovered from Crisis

According to the latest report from Statistics Austria, imports and exports are only slightly behind last year's number indicating an upwards trend after Covid-19 has impacted foreign trade significantly.

September 8, 2020

WKO Secretary General: Labor Market Situation Improves, But Remains Great Challenge

The secretary general of Austria's Federal Chamber of Commerce WKO recognizes a slightly positive trend in the labor market but underlines the importance of ongoing and future economic measures.

September 7, 2020

Economic Sentiment in Austria and the EU Brightened Further in August

Businesses and the population of the EU still have below-average economic sentiment although the expectations improved over the last month. The sharp decline due to Covid-19 is made up by about 60 % already.

August 31, 2020

Student Apartments Are Getting more Expensive in Austria

In 4 out of 6 student cities across Austria, the rent for single apartments which are mostly used by students are increasing. Only in Graz and in Linz the cost of the rent is experiencing a slight decline.

August 27, 2020

Austrian Real Estate Companies with Devaluations in Central and Eastern Europe

Austrian real estate companies CA Immo and s-Immo felt the pressure of the Covid-19 crisis and had to face significant revaluations of their properties in Austria, Germany and Central Eastern Europe.

August 25, 2020

Vienna's Mayor Michael Ludwig Met German Vice Chancellor and Minister of Finance Olaf Scholz

Mayor Michael Ludwig and German Vice Chancellor Olaf Scholz met for a working meeting in Vienna. Discussions were held about economic relations and municipal topics such as affordable housing.

August 25, 2020

Vienna: 44 Hectares of Train Station Will Turn Into Housing for 16,000 People

By 2033, the City of Vienna together with Austrian Railways (ÖBB) will turn the train station at Nordwestbahnhof (20th district, Brigittenau) into living spaces that will comfort 16,000 people.

August 21, 2020

Vienna Based UNIDO Holds Expert Panel to Discuss Developments in Industry and Society

The United Nations Industrial Development Organization hosted an expert panel about the future of industry and society. Main topics were the advancement of attaining the sustainable development goals and shaping society as a whole.

August 21, 2020

Properties for Development in Austria: Location, Location, Location

Property prices in Austria (average property prices and house price index) continued to show high price dynamics last year. The current average prices for plots, houses and apartments for development can be found below.

May 30, 2020

Financier Ronny Pecik Appointed Chief Executive Officer of Immofinanz

Croatian-Austrian star investor and largest single investor becomes CEO of commercial real estate group Immofinanz AG.

April 23, 2020

Patrick Zehetmayr Appointed Boss of Erste Group's Commercial Real Estate Activities

The Salzburg native, who has almost 30 years of experience in banking and real estate business with Erste Group, was chosen to lead Erste's commercial real estate coverage and financing.

February 19, 2020

Is Benko's Chrysler Deal in the Big Apple a Bargain?

The New York property firm RFR Holding LLC of German-American Aby J. Rosen, together with Signa Holding of Tyrolean real estate investor Rene Benko, is buying the traditional Chrysler Building in New York City for around 150 million dollars. The land is not part of the deal and the rent amounted to USD 32.5 million in 2018 and will continue to rise to USD 41 million a year by 2028.

March 11, 2019

Benko-Hyatt Project - New Luxury Lifestyle Hotel Opens in Vienna in April 2019

The first Andaz Hotel in Austria, the boutique hotel "Andaz Vienna Am Belvedere" at the new Vienna Central Station, opposite the 21er Haus and the Schweizergarten, next to the park apartments at the Belvedere, is to be opened on 17 April 2019. It is the second project and a 50:50 joint venture between René Benko's Signa Group and Andaz Hotels, an affiliate of Hyatt Hotels Corporation.

March 1, 2019 · Sponsored Content

Expansion and Modernization of Hilton Vienna am Stadtpark

The Hilton Vienna Parkview, the third-largest Hilton Hotel in Europe with a total usable space of around 50,000 square metres on a total of fifteen floors, is being developed and comprehensively modernised by the Vienna Invester Group as a developer and Hilton International while it continues to operate. The modernisation work will start at the beginning of 2019 and completion is scheduled for the end of 2020. With the completion of the expansion, the current capacity of 579 rooms is to be expanded to 660 rooms. So far, no information has been provided on the investment sum.

December 14, 2018

Ex-Magna Boss Buys Former Employer's Headquarters in Oberwaltersdorf

The Styrian Car Manager of Oleg Deripaska's Russian Machines Company and former Magna CEO Siegfried Wolf has bought the former Magna headquarters in Oberwaltersdorf.

March 2, 2016

Starwood Sells Hotel Imperial Vienna for EUR 71 Million

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. announced that it has closed on the sale of Hotel Imperial Vienna, a Luxury Collection Hotel, to Al Habtoor Investment - the investment arm of UAE conglomerate Al Habtoor Group for 71 million euros. As part of the transaction, all rooms and suites of the iconic hotel will be renovated over the next four years. Hotel Imperial will continue to operate as part of The Luxury Collection brand under a new long-term management agreement.

February 26, 2016

Erste Group Provides Blackstone with a 5-Year EUR 91 Million Facility

Erste Group provides Blackstone with a 5-year EUR 91 million facility to acquire 12 logistics assets. The 265000 sqm portfolio covers 12 standing logistics investments located in Hungary (5), Romania (4), Poland (2) and Slovakia (1), as well as land reserves.

February 22, 2016

Erste Group Moves to New Headquarters at Erste Campus

At the beginning of this year Erste Group started moving into its new headquarters at Erste Campus located in the new district of Quartier Belvedere, built on the former site of the Südbahnhof train station.

February 11, 2016

Central and Eastern European Forum in Vienna next Week

The Central and Eastern European Forum - organized by Euromoney - is taking place in Vienna next week. 1,000 top level policymakers, issuers, and commentators from the region will join local and international investors to help plan, debate and analyze the economic agenda for the region for the year ahead.

January 13, 2016

Biggest Viennese Real Estate Deal Ever - Sale of The Mall Closed

Bank Austria - via its subsidiary BAI - closed the sale of "The Mall", the largest and most modern shopping mall in the heart of Vienna. The buyer is a consortium led by Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing (MSREI). UniCredit Bank Austria did not disclose the price, but claims that the transaction is Vienna's largest real estate deal ever.

December 16, 2015

Bank Austria Sells Prominent Property "The Mall" to Morgan Stanley Consortium

UniCredit Bank Austria AG announces that the purchase agreement for the shopping centre The Mall at Wien Mitte was signed with Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing (MSREI), pending approval by the antitrust authorities.

October 22, 2015

Conwert in Talks to Purchase BGP Investment's German Properties

Conwert Immobilien Invest SE currently is in exclusive discussions with BGP Holdings Europe S.à.r.l. with respect to the potential acquisition of the German residential property assets of BGP Investment S.à.r.l., an subsidiary of BGP Holdings Europe S.à.r.l.

July 22, 2015

Niki Lauda Acquires Stakes in Benko's Real Estate Firms

The private foundation of former Formula 1 driver Niki Lauda will acquire 1% of Signa Prime and a 10% stake in Signa Retail.

July 17, 2015

Atrium European Real Estate Tenders Offer for €130 Mln Bonds

Listed property developer Atrium European Real Estate Limited announces its plan to launch an invitation to holders of its €130 million Floating Rate Notes due 2017, of which €83.85 million is currently outstanding and €46.15 million is currently held by Atrium itself, to buyback their bonds.

June 5, 2015

Purchasing Managers' Index: Austrian Industry Shows First Signs of Recovery

Bank Austria has published its latest "Purchasing Managers' Index" on the Austrian economy. At the end of the first quarter in 2015 subtle signs of a pick-up in Austrian economic activity were detected for the first time in about six months.

May 5, 2015

Immofinanz Files Lawsuit Against CA Immo

Immofinanz CEO Eduard Zehetner fulfilled his threat that the company would file a lawsuit against CA Immo and its subsidiary PHI. The complaint was filed with the commercial court in Vienna last Thursday, news magazine ‘profil’ reports in its Monday issue.

April 13, 2015

Athos Real Estate Switched to Vienna Stock Exchange Mid Market

Athos Immobilien AG joined the mid market exchange segment of Vienna Stock Exchange, which is supposed to offer greater flexibility. Apart from Athos Immobilien AG, the mid market currently lists ten further companies.

April 3, 2015

ECB Unleashes Quantitative Easing - How does it work?

Today, the ECB finally commenced on a large scale sovereign bond-buying programme. The €60bn monthly asset purchases include covered bonds and asset backed securities. Due to the flood of cheap money, the DAX was boosted. The index increased by up to one per cent to a record high of 10,399.67 points. Quantitative easing is a monetary policy where a central bank creates new money electronically to buy financial assets. The aim is to stimulate an economy when standard monetary policy has become ineffective. How does it work?

January 22, 2015

Russian Investor Boris Mints to Launch Tender Offer for 10 Pct of CA Immo Shares

O1 Group Limited of Russian investor Boris Mints has made a voluntary partial public takeover offer of 10% of additional CA Immo shares. The offer comprises the purchase of up to 9,735,276 non-par value bearer shares of CA Immo (ISIN AT0000641352), which are admitted to the Official Market on the Vienna Stock Exchange.

November 28, 2014

Business Indicator: Dip in Economic Activity Towards End of Year, but Hope Remains for 2015

Bank Austria has published its latest "Business Indicator" on the Austrian economy. The Bank's analysts believe that in light of the increasing uncertainty in recent months, the moderate recovery achieved by the European and therefore the Austrian economy too this year is taking a breather. The Russia/Ukraine crisis and the tensions in the Middle East have blighted sentiment in the Austrian economy at the start of autumn on a broad scale.

October 17, 2014

Buwog: The ATX of the Vienna Stock Exchange has a New Member

At today's meeting, the Index Committee has decided on changes in the composition of Austrian stock indices. All changes become effective as of 22 September 2014. In the Austrian leading index, ATX, Mayr-Melnhof Karton AG will be replaced by BUWOG AG.

September 2, 2014

Signa Buys Karstadt for €1

Austria's Signa Holding takes over struggling German department store chain Karstadt. Signa acquires a 100 per cent stake in Karstadt Warenhaus GmbH from Berggruen Holdings. Berggruen Holdings is going to withdraw from Karstadt Warenhaus GmbH, Karstadt Premium and Karstadt Sports as well as from from each property. The deal ends weeks of speculation over the company's future after the CEO left in July. Rene Benko will pay just €1 for the department store chain. Karstadt operates more than 80 stores across Germany and employs more than 17.000 people.

August 15, 2014

Comment: Outlook of Vienna Stock Exchange

Manfred Sibrawa of BAWAG PSK INVEST GmbH comments on the expectation of the performance of the Vienna Stock Exchange until year end. Erste Bank and Raiffeisen Bank International, but also OMV, booked double-digit losses, while the Vienna Stock Exchange welcomed a new member, FACC. "All in all we saw a mixed development year-to-date, but assuming that we see a stabilization of the global situation we can expect the Vienna ATX to speed up and reduce the underperformance towards other established markets."

August 7, 2014

Immofinanz: Net Profit for 2013/14 at EUR 180 Mln, Property Sales Top EUR 1 Bln

Immofinanz Group announces net profit totalling EUR 180.4 million for 2013/14, for a year-on-year increase of 62.8%. Rental income was lower as a result of the extensive, planned property sales. The delayed completion of the GOODZONE shopping center in Moscow prevented the full recovery of this decline during the past year. Rental income amounted to EUR 506.7 million (-7.2%) and results of operations totalled EUR 319.2 million (-19.5%). In like-for-like comparison (i.e. after an adjustment for new acquisitions, completions and sales), rental income was generally stable (-1.3% to EUR 472.7 million). Property sales set a new record at roughly EUR 1 billion.

August 4, 2014

Event: 21st Austria & Advantage Austria: Re-Think Central and Eastern Europe - An Austrian Perspective

On September 23, 2014, 21st Austria and Advantage Austria UK will host a panel discussion at the City of London's Gherkin skyscraper. Herbert Stepic, former CEO of RBI Raiffeisen Bank International and Georg Karabaczek, Austrian Trade Commissioner for the UK will focuse on the topic "Re-Think Central and Eastern Europe: An Austrian Perspective on Diversity in Performance, Challenges and Avenues of Growth". Panellists also include Pasquale Diana, Mario Holzner and Eduard Zehetner.

August 1, 2014

Analysis: Russia - Assessment of EU and Tightened US Sanctions

Special analysis covering the most recent escalation in terms of Western economic and financial sanctions against Russia: EU and US sending bold diplomatic signals without inflicting too much near-term economic and financial damage. In comparison to the US sanctions by the EU are capped in duration. Recent escalation adds to uncertainty in doing business with Russia, which is an ultimate goal of sanctions. Near-term impact of current sanctions still limited, which implies a risk that they may remain for longer.

July 31, 2014

Austrian FDI: Current Developments 1Q 2014

In the first quarter of 2014, Austrian FDI abroad reached a value of 2.8 billion euros, which is less by about 30% than in the same period of 2013. Foreign direct investments in the same period into Austria stood at 1.4 billion euros. This is about 37% less than in the same period of last year.

July 29, 2014

Immofinanz Sells Two Logistics Properties in Poland and the Czech Republic

Immofinanz Group sold two logistics properties – the Bokserska Distribution Park in Warsaw and the Westpoint Distribution Park in Prague. Both transactions took place above book value, with the combined proceeds totalling approx. EUR 33.2 million. The Westpoint Distribution Park was sold to Central Group, a Czech investor, while the Bokserska Distribution Park was sold to “UK & European Investments“, a well-known family office from Great Britain.

July 28, 2014

Volksbank Romania Sells EUR 495 Million NPL Real Estate Portfolio

Volksbank Romania has reduced its non-performing loans portfolio (NPLs) through the sale of a NPL real estate portfolio with an aggregate volume of € 495 million. The Bank has sold the large-volume real estate financing commitments to an international investors consortium composed of Deutsche Bank, AnaCap Financial Partners LLP, H.I.G Capital International Advisers and APS Holding SE. With this transaction, Volksbank Romania has reduced its NPL portfolio to a NPL ratio of below 8%, below the average in Romania's banking system.

July 28, 2014

Bank Austria Takes Over Immobilien Holding from Immobilien Privatstiftung

UniCredit Bank Austria AG intends to buy Immobilien Holding GmbH/Group, which has so far been wholly owned by Immobilien Privatstiftung. The purchase agreement has been signed today, subject to consent by the Bank Austria supervisory board and subject to approval by the Austrian competition authorities. The purchase price will not be disclosed.

July 25, 2014

Cost of Living Rankings: CEE Capitals Cheaper, Vienna is 32nd Most Expensive City

The Mercer's 2014 Cost of Living Rankings have been published and cover 211 cities across five continents. While Western European cities have all risen in the rankings mainly due to the strengthening of the Euro against the US dollar, most cities in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), however have fallen in the ranking as a result of local currencies depreciating against the US dollar. Bratislava (#84), Prague (#92), Kiev (#98), Ljubljana (#116), Zagreb (#120), Budapest (#135), Warsaw (#142), Belgrade (#184).

July 25, 2014