Buyers guide

Second home

If you do not wish to rent your property, we can offer you a smaller selection of properties, which is designated as a second home.

Fully managed property

If you are interested in a property that you do not want to use as a main residence, but only want to use it as a holiday home, we offer a competent all-round service for the rental of your holiday property.

Just let us know in, which periods you do not wish to use the house or apartment yourself. Then we will make sure that tourist optimally occupies the property, during this period. We will take care of the handover of keys to the respective tenants, and make sure that after each visit a professional and thorough finale cleaning will take place.

In addition, we will determine any damages and make sure that the responsible person will pay the costs. Furthermore, we will also take care of all other administrative tasks, in connection with the use of your holiday home in a reliably and competently way, so that you do not have to worry about anything yourself.

Instead, you should just enjoy the time you spend in the Alpine region. It is of course also possible to rent out privately, to family and friends.

 

EU-Citizens

Yes, EU-citizens is able to buy a holiday home in Austria’s nine federal states. If you are a citizen of Norway or Switzerland you will also be able to invest in real estate in all of the federal states of Austria.

The purchase process

  1. When you are buying a property in Austria, the whole process is relative straightforward. A notary acts on behalf of the buyer and the vendor. He/she will handle the deed of sale and all other relevant documents required for a purchase of a property in Austria.

  2. The purchaser and the vendor are both required to attend the notary’s office to sign the deed of sale in the notary’s presence when buying a property. An alternative could be both parties to sign a power of attorney, authorizing a secretary from the notary’s office to sign the deed of sale on their behalf. The buyer would then receive a copy of the deed of sale in German, which is the legally binding, and a English guide to the contract, if this is needed. Along with this the buyer will also receive a power of attorney, also with an English guide, which gives a secretary the authorization to sign the deed of sale on their behalf.
  3. The buyer has to take the power of attorney to either a Notary Public in their country of residence and have their signature witnessed and the Notary Public has to send the document off to the foreign office to legalize it. As an alternative the documents can be signed and legalized in one step if taken to the Austrian Embassy.

Costs of the purchase

Purchase costs for buying a property in Austria work out about 9% of the gross purchase price. The purchaser will be required to pay the notary fees after the contract of sale has been signed.

Fees are calculated as follows:

– Purchase Tax ‘Stamp Duty’ – 3.5% of the gross price
– Registration in the Land Registry – 1.2% of gross price
– Buyers contract fees – approx. 1,5% of gross price
– Approx. 3% commission of the buy price (netto)
– Court costs, administration fees – approx. 150 euro
– New project payment structures 
– Properties in new projects is paid in stages and all invoices are paid for through the notary, which is the trustee for your money. 

Payment structures

Properties in new projects is paid in stages and all invoices are paid for through the notary, which is the trustee for your money. 

Payment rates is often like this:

  • 15% at start of building works
  • 35% on completion of the shell and roof
  • 20% on completion of plumbing and electrical installations
  • 12% on completion of the facade & windows
  • 12% on completion of the property
  • 4% on hand over of keys
  • 2% after three years (or after developer providing a bank guarantee or insurance to the purchaser)

EU company

Yes, there are no restrictions in Austria if buying in the name of an EU company.

Benefits

Purchase a property with multiple partners. If you want to buy a property with more than two owners then buying in the name of a company is a good option.

Tax-free ownership transfers. Ownership can be transferred tax free (to children or grandchildren, for example) by a transfer of shares.

Involved costs

  • The set up costs for an EU company start at around €1,000.
  • The yearly maintenance fees of  EU company are around €800.

Borrowing capability

Austrian banks will fund up to 60% of the purchase price and usually the loan period will be between 15 and 25 years.  It is also possible to take fixed rate mortgages for 5 or 10 years.

Charges and interest rates

Some banks charge a set-up fee and this is usually around 1,5% of the value of the loan. They will also charge an appraisal fee of 0.5% and you will need to pay the notary a fee of 1.5% of the amount of the mortgage to register the mortgage in the land registry.
Variable rates are around 1,5%-2%.

Rental income

In the Austrian Alps, rental return tends to vary between 3% – 5% depending on a variety of factors such as the apartment, cities, location of the property, facilities and other characteristics.

Rental costs

The expenses of for example renovation of the chalets or apartments are most often divided up proportionately  between owners, determined by different factors.

As a estimate the basic running costs for a property often is around 4-7 € per m2/monthly and this covers the fixed costs, which could be cleaning, reception, water usage, insurances, local taxes, heating, electricity and maintenance of the property and other similar types of expenses.

If you buy a property with extra facilities such as swimming pools, spas and saunas, these costs could be increased.

Rent of apartment

In Austria most properties are obliged to be rented out for a specific duration of a season. This can variate from different towns. The obligated rental is because of the tourism industry is a big part of Austria’s economy.

Tax advantages

Renting out your property can give tax advantages, as it is possible to reclaim a percentage, or in some cases all of the VAT, on your purchase. This means you would receive a discount of up to 20%.

To be eligible for this VAT discount you would have to rent out your property professionally. This is something we would be able to help out with.

Obligated taxes

When you buy a property in Austria you have the opportunity to receive a settlement over the obligated taxes, which you get from a local tax lawyer.

A tax lawyer will charge up to approx. 600 euros, for making an annual report for VAT and other taxes.

Investment

As an investment, a property in Austria is a great decision. Austria is a advantageous country to invest in, as it is an economically stable country. Austrian property offers stable and constant rental income, with a dual seasonality with skiing in the winter season, and hiking and cycling in the summer season.

Selling

If you at some point want to sell your property, this is something we can help with. We have a wide network of real estate agents in different countries in Europe, and as supplement a customer database, where the buyer of your property could be found.

Interested or curious?

You are welcome to contact us at Phone: 0043 6434201354
Email: info@alpenliving.com

Or, you can fill in the form below and we will give you call.