Vienna International Real Estate Market and Property News

Vienna Real Estate Market Hopelessly Overstrained?

Real estate trustees in Vienna demand a limit to state-subsidized apartments and call for “unrestricted” rents.

April 23, 2014

Romania: Huge Increase in Commercial Real Estate Investments

Investments in commercial real estates rose by 256 percent year-on-year in Romania. However, investments in CEE declined.

April 18, 2014

Discrepancies on Austrian Real Estate Market

Because of the high rents the city of Vienna intends to do away with location premiums. Listed real estate company Conwert announced raising its rents by May 1.

April 18, 2014

Czech Republic: Interest on Mortgage Loans Dropped

Interest ratest on mortgage loans dropped to a record low to 2.93 percent last month.

April 18, 2014

Immofinanz: Ownership Problems in Romania

According to a court decision Immofinanz has took over not legitimately acquired property in Transsylvania.

April 17, 2014

Conwert to Leave Germany?

A consortium of investors is highly interested in the German subsidiary of the Austrian real estate group. The consortium is led by conwert´s former board director Johannes Meran.

April 16, 2014

Massive Dispute at Conwert

The Austrian real estate group faces troubles: representatives of small shareholders want to join the administrative council. Major shareholder Hans Peter Haselsteiner wants to dispatch his own representatives.

April 15, 2014

Vienna: Luxury Real Estate Segment Booms

In contrast to the general trend in Austria, the properties in Vienna become more and more expensive. About 25% of the apartments cost more than € 500,000.

April 15, 2014

Austria: Immofinanz to Remain in ATX Five

As announced on 4 March 2014, the ATX committee discussed about the future membership of Immofinanz AG in the ATX five.

April 10, 2014

S IMMO AG: Letting success in Sofia

The first quarter of 2014 brought encouraging successes in letting for S IMMO AG in Sofia, one of the company’s most challenging markets.

April 9, 2014

Hypo Group: Heavy Burden for Austrian Fiscal Position

The Austrian National Bank, however, expects the structural medium-term budgetary objectives to be achievable.

April 7, 2014

Wealthy Investing in Real Estates in Vienna

Vienna is considered a “safe haven” for real estate investments. In particular, luxury homes, such as the Palais Principe for instance, are more than attractive for wealthy investors.

April 4, 2014

Massive Tensions in Vienna´s Residential Property Market

In Austrian capital, rents are increasing unstoppably. Demand is still much bigger than supply.

March 31, 2014

Slovenia: Danger of Tax Increase

Because of the failed introduction of the property tax Finance Minister Uros Cufer suggested an inrease in VAT to compensate for the losses in revenue.

March 31, 2014

Conwert to Withdraw from CESEE

The Vienna-listed real estate group wants to sell its assets in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe. The sales proceeds are expected to reach up to € 200m.

March 29, 2014

Slovenia: Controversial Property Tax Fails

The Slovenian Constitutional Court has rejected the controversial property tax suggested by the government. This will jeopardize this year’s budget.

March 28, 2014

Slovenia: Chaos around Real Estate Tax Continues

On Thursday the Slovenian National Assembley will pass amendments to the highly debated real estate tax.

March 27, 2014

Real Estate in Vienna: Offer Does Not Catch up Demand

There is a growing trend towards population increase as well as small households in Vienna.

March 25, 2014

Austria: No Changes to Land Transfer Tax

There will be no tax hikes in the near future concerning the inheritance of property within families. The draft law of the Finance Ministry also includes the exemption of business successions.

March 24, 2014

Slovenia: Considerably Fewer Building Permits Issued

Almost a quarter fewer building permits were issued in January in Slovenia.

March 21, 2014

Slovenia: Government Confirms Tax for Residential Property

The government has confirmed the changes adopted for the introduction of the real estate tax.

March 20, 2014

Conwert Achieves Turnaround

The Austrian real estate group returns to the profit zone. Last year, net income totaled € 49m.

March 19, 2014

Immofinanz: Substantial Increase in Profits

In the first nine months of 2013/14, the Vienna-listed group registered an increase in net income by 7.1%. For the time being, Immofinanz is not affected by the Crimea crisis.

March 19, 2014

Slovenia: Confusion over Real Estate Tax

The deadline for real estate owners to prepare for the new real estate tax has been extended by a month.

March 19, 2014

CA Immo: Considerable Drop in Net Income

Financial results 2013: CA Immo achieves record operating result. Balance sheet strengthened, Net Asset Value up 6%.

March 19, 2014

VBAG: Romanian Affiliate Sells Bad Loan Portfolio

The ailing affiliate of Austrian partly nationalized VBAG will sell its non-performing loans on a large scale.

March 18, 2014

Immofinanz: Buwog’s Spin-Off Approved

In an extraordinary shareholder meeting, the spin-off of residential real estate affiliate of Immofinanz was approved by the shareholders.

March 14, 2014

Austria: Hypo Group Disaster with Exorbitant Costs

The extent of the disaster of Austrian problem bank Hypo Group Alpe Adria only starts to unfold bit by bit. A further capital injection of € 750m is needed only for the ailing bank to complete its balance sheets.

March 11, 2014

Austria: Looming Real Estate Bubble in Vienna

While the official opinion is that there are dangerous price tendencies, some experts warn of the danger of a real estate bubble in the Austrian capital.

March 11, 2014

Austria: Prices for Luxury Real Estates Soaring

The prices for luxury real estates in Austria continue to increase.

March 10, 2014

Slovenia: Government Envisages Reform Measures

After the EU Commission delivered a warning to Slovenia over the macroeconomic imbalances Prime Minister Alenka Bratusek announced yesterday she had expected such a report.

March 7, 2014

Serbia: Share of NPL Increases Dramatically

The share of bad loans in Serbia has increased to 21.3 percent.

March 6, 2014

Austrian Real Estate Market Shrinks

In terms of transactions, the Austrian real estate market shrank by 12.5% last year. Nevertheless, the price level has reached new records.

March 6, 2014

Hungarian Property Market Crisis Sharpens

In 2013, the building activity in the residential property sector fell dramatically. A soon recovery is more than unlikely.

March 1, 2014

Slovenia: SMEs Protest Against Real Estate Tax

Tax bills would rise by many times for small business owners.

February 24, 2014

“Polish Economy at Crossroads“

In an interview with Austrian daily “WirtschaftsBlatt“, Ryszard Petru, chairman of the Society of Policy Economists, sees high chances for the Polish economy; however, only if the country knows how to support innovation.

February 21, 2014

Austria: Real Estate Prices Still Soaring

Barely any other city in Europe saw prices rising as high for residential real estates as Vienna.

February 18, 2014

Vienna Insurance Group Expands Market Leadership in Slovakia

The Group expands its position as the number one in the core market Slovakia. Strong growth above market average. Increase in premiums in all lines of business.

February 17, 2014

Real Estate: Vienna´s Office Market Saturated

In contrast to office markets in CESEE (Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe), the Viennese office market has no major projects in the pipeline. The growth potential is rather limited.

February 15, 2014

Austria: Changes Ahead of Buwog’s IPO

Buwog, residential builiding affiliate of real estate company Immofinanz, will be listed from April 28 on and is supposed to become a candidate for the leading Austrian index ATX at the Vienna Stock Exchange (VSE).

February 14, 2014

Austrians Prefer Real Estates as Safe Investment Form

Around two third of Austrian investors prefer safe form of investment like real estates and properties.

February 14, 2014

Immofinanz Kicking Off IPO of Buwog

Listed real estate company Immofinanz is kicking off its inital puplic offering of residential real estate affiliate Buwog.

February 13, 2014

Austrian Real Estate: Prices to Increase only in Vienna

While the property price level does not stop to increase in Austria´s capital, the rest of Austria faces stagnating property prices.

February 12, 2014

CEE: Still Growth Market in Real Estate Sector

The region is still a growth market in the real estate sector even after the crisis. However, the legal situation in some CEE countries can be a pitfall to real estate companies.

February 10, 2014

Viennese Real Estate: Roof Space Utilization is the Key

In Austria´s capital, living space is rather limited. In the next few years, shortages in the housing market will sharpen further.

February 5, 2014

Real Estate: Outskirts of Vienna Popular Among East Europeans

More and more well situated East Europeans discover the suburban regions surrounding the Austrian capital. Unlike in Vienna, property prices are going up steadily.

February 4, 2014

Upward Trend in Polish Property Market Continues

In Poland, the property market continues to grow significantly. There are no signs of a cool-down.

February 3, 2014

Real Estate: Why Austrians Prefer Rented Apartments

About 40% of the Austrian households are rented apartments. Most tenants cannot afford becoming homeowners.

February 3, 2014

Considerable Differences Across European Mortgage Markets

According to Fitch Ratings, the performance of European residential mortgage markets as a whole has improved. In Southeastern Europe, by contrast, the recovery will take some more time.

January 23, 2014

CA Immo to Repurchase Liabilities

Listed real estate company CA Immobilien Anlagen AG announced to repurchase its own liabilities of around € 428m in nominal terms.

January 22, 2014