Vienna faces sharp decline in privately financed rental housing

Vienna is set to see a steep drop in completions of rental apartments built without public subsidies, according to a study by property services company CBRE, reported by ORF.

About 2,100 such apartments are expected to be completed this year, compared with around 400 in 2027. In 2022, more than 5,300 were completed. “The structural problems in Vienna’s housing market are worsening despite a slight increase in total housing completions in 2027,” Martin Denner of CBRE Austria said in a statement.

CBRE expects around 7,200 apartments to be completed in Vienna in 2026, 5% fewer than the previous year. The total is forecast to rise by 11% to nearly 8,000 in 2027, but most of the increase is expected to come from owner-occupied apartments. Rental housing is likely to remain scarce.

Denner attributed the decline in new rental projects to economic conditions. High land prices, rising construction costs and increased return requirements are making such developments harder to build profitably, CBRE said. The low number of building permits is also a factor.

The shrinking supply is already pushing up rents, the study found. In Vienna’s new-build segment, the top rent is now 20.50 euros net per square metre, nearly 6% higher than in the third quarter of 2025. The steepest percentage increase, at around 10%, was recorded in densely built-up districts, including Rudolfsheim-Fünfhaus and Brigittenau.