Before Brexit at the end of January 2020, we were selling anything between half a dozen and a dozen Austrian properties a year to UK residents, with many more renting properties for the winter and/or summer months for short stays. Now, even though travel to Austria is permitted again, Brexit has made buying residential property off limits to aspiring second home owners from the UK. Those who bought property before the cut-off date may, of course, keep their property, but once sold, they will not be allowed to buy again.
This is good news for the many Dutch, German, Eastern European and myriad other European nationalities who appreciate Austria’s many cultural and lifestyle offerings sufficiently to invest in second homes and now no longer have to face competition from the Brits. Certainly, agents who had been predominantly selling to UK buyers pre-Brexit (and pre-Covid) have found no shortage of buyers.
Domestically, Austrian house prices continue to see strong growth. According to the Oesterreichische Nationalbank, the residential property price index in Q1 of 2021 was up 12.34 per cent compared with the previous year’s growth of a comparatively modest 3.4 per cent. House prices in Vienna, rose by 10.94 per cent during the year to Q1 2021, representing the highest growth in eight years. For the rest of Austria, the residential property price index rose by a record 14.05 per cent in Q1 2021 over the previous year – again a marked improvement from the previous year’s 2.84 per cent increase.
Anecdotally, we have seen similar price growth in and around Zell am See so far in 2021, which has been mirrored in other regional hotspots such as Kaprun, Saalbach, Maria Alm and into the Hochkoenig National Park. The Tyrol remains ever popular, especially among German buyers, with the higher value resorts such as Lech, St Anton and Kitzbühel/Kirchberg commanding premium values and are increasingly undersupplied. Local agents are reporting a doubling of the number of transactions over pre-Covid levels.
There are still mechanisms for British buyers to acquire property in Austria – either via the commercial route or for a residential asset, using the establishment of a company vehicle in the EU and the appointment of an EU major shareholder. In exceptionally rare cases, the odd property comes along with ‘pure’ second home status that may be acquired by any nationality, but these are a bit like finding a four-leaf clover – or perhaps that should be edelweiss.
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