🇦🇹Austria · Property
Austria — Property
How foreigners buy property in Austria: closing costs near 10 to 12 %, transfer tax 3.5 %, near-zero annual Grundsteuer, 30 % ImmoESt on gains, non-EU rules.
Austria is one of Europe’s cheapest places to hold a home and one of its more expensive to buy one. The annual property tax on a house often stays under € 240 a year, yet the costs of closing a purchase reach roughly 11 % of the price. There is no wealth tax and no investor residency, and non-EU buyers face a registration gate that EU nationals never see.
Cheap to hold, expensive to close
Two numbers frame any Austrian purchase. The first is the annual property tax, the Grundsteuer, which for a typical house runs around 180 to € 240 a year: in many countries that is a single monthly bill. The second is the cost of getting in, where transfer tax, registration, notary and agent stack up to roughly 11 % of the purchase price before you own anything. Austria rewards the long-term owner and penalises the frequent trader.
A point worth stating plainly, because Austria is sometimes lumped in with markets where property buys a visa: it does not here. There is no Golden Visa, no residency-by-investment, no minimum spend that unlocks a permit. The asset and the permit are separate questions. If you want to live in Austria, the routes are the Red-White-Red Card, the EU Blue Card, the quota-bound independent-means permit, employment or study, all covered in the Visa chapter. None of them care whether you own a flat.
The second surprise is who may register a purchase. EU and EEA nationals buy on the same terms as Austrians. Everyone else meets the system: in much of the country a non-EU buyer needs sign-off from a regional land-transfer authority before the deal can be entered in the land register. There is also good news on the holding side: Austria has no wealth tax, and abolished inheritance and gift tax in 2008.
Purchase costs: transfer tax, registry, notary, agent
The headline ancillary figure of roughly 11 % is the sum of four lines. Budget for them in cash, because lenders rarely finance the closing costs themselves.
Transfer tax (Grunderwerbsteuer)
Every change of ownership triggers the , the real-estate transfer tax, at a standard 3.5 % of the purchase price. This is the single largest line and it is non-negotiable on an ordinary market sale. The base is the price actually paid; the tax office will not simply accept an artificially low contract value, and undervaluation is a well-mapped enforcement area.
Land-registry fee (Grundbuch)
Recording the new owner in the land register (Grundbuch) costs a further 1.1 % of the price. There is a real concession here: for an owner-occupied primary residence up to a value of € 500,000, this 1.1 % is currently waived, a relief in force until 30 Jun 2026. On a half-million-euro family home that saves several thousand euros, but it does nothing for an investor or a second-home buyer, who pay the fee in full.
Notary and legal
An Austrian purchase is handled through a notary or a contract lawyer, who drafts the deed, runs the trust account that holds the money until title transfers, and files the registration. Expect roughly 1.5 to 3 % of the price for this, sometimes plus VAT. The escrow function matters: the buyer’s funds sit with a neutral trustee and are released to the seller only once the ownership change is secured in the register, which is the main protection against a deal collapsing mid-transfer.
Agent commission
Where an estate agent is involved, the buyer typically pays a commission of up to around 3 % plus VAT. A 2023 reform shifted Austria toward the principle that whoever commissions the agent pays, so on some new-build and direct sales the buyer-side fee disappears entirely. On a standard resale through an agent, though, the buyer should still assume it is in the bill.
- Transfer tax (Grunderwerbsteuer)of the purchase price
- 3.5 %verif. · 2026-06-08
- Land-registry fee (Grundbuch)waived for a primary home up to the cap until 30 Jun 2026
- 1.1 %verif. · 2026-06-08
- Primary-home waiver ceilingvalue cap for the registry-fee waiver
- € 500,000verif. · 2026-06-08
- All-in ancillary coststransfer tax + registry + notary/legal + agent
- 11 %verif. · 2026-06-08
Add the four lines and the all-in cost of entry sits at roughly 10 to 12 % over the headline price. The clearest way to use the number: a flat advertised at 400,000 euros realistically needs something closer to 444,000 euros in hand, and more if you are not buying it as your main home.
Annual costs: the near-invisible Grundsteuer
If the entry cost is Austria’s sting, the annual carry is its gift. The recurring property tax, the Grundsteuer, is strikingly low: for a single-family house it commonly lands around 180 to € 240 a year, and an apartment owner pays less again as a share of the building.
The reason is technical but worth knowing. Grundsteuer is calculated on an assessed tax value (Einheitswert) frozen at levels set decades ago, not on current market price. The result is a tax capped near 1 % of an outdated assessment, which in practice means a trivial figure against what the property is actually worth. Reform of these values has been debated for years without landing, so for now the low bill stands.
What actually costs money each year
For an apartment, the real recurring line is Betriebskosten: the building running costs (caretaker, lift, shared heating, insurance of the structure, the reserve fund for major repairs) levied monthly through the owners’ association. These typically run a few euros per square metre per month and dwarf the Grundsteuer. A standalone house carries its own buildings insurance and maintenance instead, but no association fee. Budget the operating costs, not the property tax, as the figure that recurs.
Selling: 30 % ImmoESt and the main-residence exemption
A gain on selling private property is taxed under , the property-gains tax, at a flat 30 % of the profit. There is no holding period that makes the gain tax-free by the passage of time: Austria closed that route in 2012, so the old idea that a property held long enough sells tax-free no longer holds. The taxable gain is broadly the sale price minus the documented acquisition cost and qualifying improvement spend.
Main-residence exemption (Hauptwohnsitzbefreiung)
The decisive relief is the main-residence exemption. If the property was your primary home for at least 2 yr continuous years immediately before the sale, or for any five years within the last ten, the gain is fully exempt with no cap. This is what lets an owner-occupier sell the family home tax-free, and it is the single most valuable reason to register your purchase as your genuine primary residence rather than a notional one.
The rezoning surcharge
Since Jul 2025 there is a sharper edge for land that changes its planning status. Where part of a gain comes from a rezoning (Umwidmung), for instance farmland reclassified as building land, an additional surcharge of 30 % applies to that slice of the profit on top of the base ImmoESt. The measure targets windfall gains from planning decisions rather than ordinary house sales, but anyone buying land with development potential should price it in. For a normal apartment or house sale it does not bite.
A non-resident who sells Austrian property is still inside the Austrian net: the ImmoESt is generally withheld and remitted by the handling notary on completion. Whether the gain is also taxed in your country of residence depends on the relevant double-tax treaty, and for some nationalities that treaty may be suspended, a point the Taxes chapter covers for Russian residents specifically.
Non-EU buyers and the Grundverkehr approval
Austria splits buyers cleanly in two. EU and EEA nationals, and Swiss citizens, are treated as domestic buyers: they purchase and register on exactly the same footing as an Austrian, with no special permission. Everyone else is a third-country national and meets the land-transfer control before the deal can complete.
How the approval works
For a non-EU buyer, the regional land-transfer authority (Grundverkehrsbehorde) must approve the acquisition before it is entered in the land register. The rules are set at state level, not federally, so what is routine in one province can be slow or restrictive in another. The notary handling the purchase normally files the application as part of the process, and the contract is usually signed subject to approval, but a buyer should plan for the extra step rather than be caught by it.
The strict states
Scrutiny is tightest in Tyrol, Salzburg, Vorarlberg and Vienna, the regions most exposed to holiday-home demand and price pressure. The flashpoint is the secondary or holiday residence: several alpine states actively restrict new second homes to protect housing supply for residents, and a non-EU buyer hoping to acquire a ski chalet as a part-time bolthole can find the door closed even when the money is there. A purchase intended as a genuine primary residence is usually treated more favourably than a declared second home.
No residency from the purchase
Clearing the Grundverkehr hurdle and buying a flat changes nothing about your right to live in Austria. Approval to acquire property is not a residence permit, and ownership is not a visa. A non-EU owner still needs an independent legal basis to reside, and an empty owned apartment confers no immigration status whatsoever. If living in Austria is the goal, the property is at most a place to put it once the permit exists, never the permit itself.
Frequently asked
Can foreigners buy property in Austria?
EU and EEA nationals, and Swiss citizens, buy on exactly the same terms as Austrians, with no special permission. Non-EU (third-country) nationals can also buy, but in most of the country the regional land-transfer authority (Grundverkehrsbehorde) must approve the purchase before it can be entered in the land register, and some alpine states restrict second-home acquisitions tightly.
What are the total costs of buying property in Austria?
All-in ancillary costs run to roughly 11 % of the price. The components are the 3.5 % transfer tax (Grunderwerbsteuer), the 1.1 % land-registry fee (Grundbuch), notary and legal of around 1.5 to 3 %, and agent commission of up to about 3 % plus VAT where an agent is used. On a 400,000 euro flat that is roughly 40,000 to 48,000 euros on top.
How much is the annual property tax in Austria?
Very little. The Grundsteuer for a typical single-family house runs around 180 to € 240 a year, because it is assessed on frozen historical values (Einheitswert) and capped near 1 % of that figure. For an apartment owner the real recurring cost is the building operating charge (Betriebskosten), not the property tax.
Is the land-registry fee really waived for a home?
For now, yes, within limits. The 1.1 % Grundbuch registration fee is waived for an owner-occupied primary residence up to a value of € 500,000, a relief in force until 30 Jun 2026. It does not apply to investment properties or second homes, where the fee is charged in full.
Is there capital gains tax when I sell property in Austria?
Yes. A private real-estate gain is taxed at a flat 30 % under the ImmoESt, with no tax-free holding period. The main-residence exemption (Hauptwohnsitzbefreiung) removes the tax entirely if the home was your primary residence for 2 yr continuous years before the sale, or for five of the last ten. Since Jul 2025 a 30 % surcharge applies to gains driven by rezoning.
Does buying property in Austria give residency or a visa?
No. Austria has no Golden Visa, no residency-by-investment, and no minimum-spend threshold tied to property. A purchase does not create, support or accelerate any visa or residence permit, and owning an empty apartment confers no immigration status. Residency runs through the Red-White-Red Card, EU Blue Card, the quota-bound independent-means permit, employment, study or family routes, none of which require property.
Does Austria have a wealth tax on property?
No. Austria levies no annual wealth tax, and it abolished inheritance and gift tax in 2008. The only recurring property levy is the modest Grundsteuer; the heavier ongoing cost is the building operating charge, not any tax on the value held.
Verified · 2026-06-08