The luxury and second-home market in Vienna has traditionally centered on apartments in the First District, a Unesco heritage site with a wealth of Baroque architecture as well as the Imperial Palace. In recent years, as the high-end market has grown, a number of historic buildings in the center have been converted to luxury apartments. Prices in the First District range from about $1,000 per square foot to three times that or more for the most exclusive penthouses.
Buyers looking for houses or villas will find them in the 13th District, west of the center, as well as in the 18th and 19th Districts to the north. “You are 15 minutes by car from the city center, but you are in the countryside,” Mr. Marschall said. The very best historic houses in those districts can sell for up to $12 million, agents said, though many are under $4 million.
Prices tend to fall as buyers move away from the First District, said Alexander Koch de Gooreynd, the international residential director of Knight Frank in London, which is partners with Otto in Vienna, and developers are starting to respond to the limited supply there.
In districts like the second and fifth, he said, “It’s still easy to walk into the city center, but you’re looking at price points from 750,000 to 2.5 million euros,” or about $850,000 to $2.8 million. “That is where we’re getting a lot of interest.”
The swiftly rising prices have brought some soul-searching among Austrians, said Eggert Koch, the owner of Dr. Koch & Company real estate as younger people are finding it harder and harder to afford property. “There are two opinions,” he said, about whether the jump in prices is a good thing for the city. “One is that prices are too low — if you compare to London or Paris, it’s much, much cheaper. The other feeling is that young people can’t afford to buy here if you didn’t inherit money. If it’s a world city, then we’re too cheap, but if you live here and make money here, it’s too expensive.”
Nonetheless, Vienna remains a relative bargain, said Christian Sommer, the managing director of Austria for Engel & Voelkers. “If you want to spend maybe 6,000 or 7,000 euros per square meter,” or about $630 to $735 per square foot, “you can get good quality in a good location. That puts us in a good situation compared with other international locations. You get two or three times more here for the same price.”
Looking ahead, there are signs that the market is cooling down, even if prices have not fallen. Chief among them is the uncertain economic situation in Russia, as well as the conflict in Ukraine. “I think this year it will not be so easy, because we are strongly influenced by the economy in Eastern Europe, and a lot of buyers come from there,” Mr. Marschall said. “But if it gets better, they will come back.”
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