Building Permits for New Housing Units in Austria 2023-2025

The sentiment in the Austrian construction industry was optimistic at the beginning of 2022, but changed drastically in the course of the year. The decade-long boom in residential construction is coming to an end. The reasons for the slowdown are rising construction costs due to the Ukraine war and higher financing costs due to the ECB's interest rate turnaround. Tighter lending standards have also dampened demand for credit, leading to a sharp fall in the number of building permits. The number of building permits was 22 percent below the previous year's level and could fall further in the coming years given the volatile economic environment. As part of this project, semi-annual forecasts of residential building permits in Austria are produced in order to provide an up-to-date assessment of developments.