There are about 960,000 apartments in the City of Vienna. Three quarters are rental apartments, while the rest fall into the categories of Condominium or Co-Op suites.
In the center of this wonderful city, rents are higher than on the outskirts, (with some exceptions).So what else is new?
The Vice Mayor of Vienna, Mrs. Maria Vassilakou, has now called for legislation, placing a 'cap' on these rents.
The "Kurier", one of Austria's major Newspapers has listed average rents charged in various parts of Vienna.
In the First District, which is the true down town , featuring St. Stephen's Cathedral, the Opera, the major Concert halls, the 'Musikverein', the Kaerntnerstrasse, one of Europe's finest shopping streets, Museums, Theatres, Art Galleries, and so on, rents are, understandably the highest in Vienna and in Austria.
There, this report states, an average apartment rents for 12.3 Euros per square meter.
If we assume the average apartment to comprise about 75 m² we can extrapolate a monthly average rent of about 922.5 Euros. (about $1,200.00)
Of course there are apartments renting for considerably more. But that's the way it is with averages. There consequently must be other apartments renting for considerably less.
Now, the Vice Mayor suggests a 'rent-cap' of 7.00 Euros per m². This would put a "cap" of 525.00 Euros per month on an apartment in downtown Vienna.
The SPÖ (Socialist Party of Austria) naturally supports this proposition enthusiastically, as does the Labour Union.
The Opposition uses such terms as "Stone-age Communism" and suggests that the good Vice-Mayor really does not have even the most rudimentary understanding of Economics.
I have not seen any supporting statistical evidence, but I believe the claim of some building owners, that at this level, they would be better off just locking the front door of their properties and forget about the Rental Business, immediately converting their properties to the 'Condo-Status'....
What these poor guys don't yet quite understand is that such a Government would quickly prohibit such conversions.
Fortunately, Housing is a provincial affair and this administration has rejected this idea, calling it "a totally unrealizable suggestion".
Does this mean that they might go along with it if it were a "realizable" suggestion? Have they no opposition to this idea on "moral" or "economic" grounds??
Having spent many years in Property Management in the Province of Ontario, I know well the disasterous results of a Socialist Government's "refining" such legislation.
Just remember what Bob Rae (of the New Democratic Party) said to a reporter, when asked how he would change the ratio of Privately owned rental suites (80%) to Government Housing (20%)....
You do not remember ?
Well let me refresh your memory:
He said he would introduce Legislation to make ownership of apartment buildings so onerous and non-profitable, that the Owners and Developers would beg the Government to take their buildings off their hands."
Yes, that's what the Socialists would do, or at least that's what Bob Rae would have done: They would conduct Expropriation without Compensation without even batting an eyelash.
Watch Out, Austria. At first it starts with a "dream suggestion" of a minor official. You never know though, where it ends.
That's the way
Bertstravels sees it.
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