Figures from the Oesterreichische Nationalbank show a clear change. Household demand for housing loans has been recovering since the beginning of 2024.

Austrian banks granted around EUR 17 billion in new housing loans in 2025, compared with approximately EUR 11 billion in 2024. By March, April and May 2026, new housing lending was already running at more than EUR 1.6 billion per month.

That does not mean that we are returning to the exceptional financing conditions of the ultra-low-rate years.

It means that people who postponed buying because financing had become too expensive or too difficult are beginning to return to the market.

New housing supply cannot return at the same speed.

The reduction in Austrian residential construction has been substantial.

According to the Oesterreichische Nationalbank, real residential construction investment fell by around 20 percent between the beginning of 2022 and the end of 2025. Construction activity by commercial developers has roughly halved since 2019.

Vienna is already seeing the consequences.

CBRE estimates that around 8,800 homes in large-scale new residential developments were completed in Vienna in 2025 — approximately 20 percent fewer than one year earlier. Even the expected increase in 2026 remains below 10,000 homes and, in CBRE’s assessment, is still insufficient to materially relieve the market.

A buyer can arrange financing and purchase an apartment within months.

A new residential building takes years — from acquiring the site and designing the building to financing, permits and construction.

The homes that were never started during the weaker construction years are therefore missing from today’s pipeline.

One assumption I hear frequently is that if buyers simply wait long enough, new-build apartments in Vienna will eventually become significantly cheaper.

The evidence so far tells a different story.

During the period of sharply higher interest rates between the third quarter of 2022 and the second quarter of 2024, prices for used apartments in Vienna fell by 9.4 percent, according to the Oesterreichische Nationalbank.

Prices for new apartments fell by just 0.1 percent over the same period.

Following the first interest-rate cut in June 2024, prices for new Vienna apartments subsequently increased by 3.8 percent through the end of 2025.

For me, this illustrates an important difference. In a weaker market, transaction volumes for new apartments can respond quickly. Prices themselves have much less room to move because the costs of land, construction and financing have already been incurred.

A new apartment cannot be created independently of what it costs to build.

Land, construction, financing, building technology, energy requirements, materials and labour all form part of a project’s cost base.

And those costs have not disappeared.

In July 2026, residential construction costs in Austria were 5.2 percent higher than one year earlier, according to Statistics Austria.

That matters to buyers because a project starting today or tomorrow can no longer be calculated on the cost base of earlier years.

For me, the more useful question is therefore not whether one apartment might be offered slightly more cheaply next quarter.

It is this:

What will it cost five years from now to create the same quality of new apartment in a comparable Vienna location?

When we talk about property, the conversation very quickly becomes a calculation of euros per square metre.

But that is not really how we choose a home.

We choose the floor. The light. The orientation. The balcony or terrace. The layout. The street. The neighbourhood.

Two apartments with exactly the same floor area can be completely different homes.

And once the apartment with the best terrace has been sold, it is gone.

That is why I believe buyers should think about something besides price: the risk of losing choice.

As financing becomes available to more households while fewer newly built apartments reach the market, more potential buyers will naturally be looking at the same good properties.

At that point, price may not be the first thing you lose.

It may simply be the apartment you wanted.

The preferred floor has been sold. The quiet orientation is gone. The terrace is no longer available. Or perhaps no comparable new development will come to your preferred neighbourhood for several years.

For me, this is one of the strongest reasons to look seriously at the market today.

Vienna has extraordinary historic apartments. I completely understand why people fall in love with high ceilings, traditional double doors and beautiful period buildings.

But when buying an older property, I would always ask a second question:

What will I need to invest in this apartment during the next twenty or thirty years?

Windows? Electrical installations? Heating? Pipes? Doors? Bathrooms? Insulation?

Sometimes that work has already been done. Sometimes it has not.

A well-built new residence starts from a very different position. Modern windows, electrical systems, insulation, building technology and contemporary energy standards are already part of the property.

Every building will require maintenance eventually.

But maintenance and fundamental modernisation are two very different things.

For a property that may one day be passed on to your children, I believe that has real value.

Ideally, you should be able to pass on a home — not an immediate major renovation project.

For investors, new-build and older properties can also have very different profiles.

Parts of Vienna’s older housing stock can be subject to statutory limitations on rent-setting. The exact rules always depend on the particular property and tenancy.

Properties within the full application of the Austrian Mietrechtsgesetz are subject to rent limitations, while certain non-subsidised newer buildings and condominium properties fall under different rules.

That does not mean that an Altbau is automatically a poor investment.

It means that two things should be considered together: future refurbishment costs and long-term flexibility on the income side.

An ageing property may require greater capital expenditure over time while, depending on its legal classification, the owner’s flexibility over rental income may also be restricted.

A modern new-build apartment begins with a different profile: contemporary building technology, modern energy standards and generally a much lower need for fundamental refurbishment during the first years of ownership.

At the same time, modern housing in Vienna remains in demand. CBRE reports that newly completed housing continues to fall short of actual demand, particularly in the rental segment. With building permits declining and costs rising, CBRE expects continued pressure on prime rents.

For a long-term investor, I believe purchase price, rental potential and future capital expenditure belong in the same calculation.

Vienna continues to grow.

At the beginning of 2026, around 2.04 million people lived in the city. During 2025 alone, the population increased by more than 12,000 people.

The City of Vienna also expects further growth over the long term. Its current population forecast sees Vienna reaching around 2.36 million residents by 2055 — roughly 332,000 more than today.

A population forecast cannot tell us what one particular apartment will be worth.

But the long-term principle for property is simple:

A growing city needs homes.

And good locations cannot be manufactured.

That is one reason why I believe high-quality modern housing in Vienna remains particularly interesting over the long term — both for owner-occupiers and investors.

When I look at Vienna’s residential market today, I see several things happening at once.

Financing is returning. More people are once again able to make concrete plans to buy a home.

At the same time, considerably fewer homes were built during the past several years. New-build apartment prices proved remarkably resilient even during the weaker market, while the costs of creating new projects remained high.

For me, that creates an interesting window.

Demand is beginning to recover, while the full effect of several years of reduced construction has not yet worked its way through the available supply.

And buyers today still have something particularly valuable:

choice.

They can still compare different apartments, floors, layouts, orientations and outdoor spaces.

That freedom may become smaller as demand increases and the supply of new homes becomes tighter.

For people who already know that they want to own a home in Vienna over the long term, I therefore believe this is a good time to look seriously at the market — rather than simply waiting for the possibility that an even cheaper moment may arrive one day.

At A. Steiner & Partner, we do not think about homes in financial quarters.

We think in years and, if we do our job properly, in generations.

At Goldener Tukan in Schwaigergasse, buyers can still choose between different newly built residences and decide which floor, layout, orientation and outdoor space genuinely suit the way they want to live.

And if you prefer to see exactly what you are buying before making a decision, we would also be delighted to show you completed apartments in existing Steiner Immobiliengruppe developments.

I believe there is real value in experiencing a home before making that decision.

Walk inside. Stand beside the window. See how the daylight enters the room. Step onto the terrace. Look at the materials. Walk around the neighbourhood.

Then ask yourself not only what the apartment costs today.

Ask:

Will it really be easier — or cheaper — to find the same quality of new apartment in this location five years from now?

That is why I believe this is a particularly good time to look seriously at buying a new-build apartment in Vienna.

Not because anyone should buy just any apartment.

But because the right apartment may not be offered twice.