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Looking for an apartment or apartment in Vienna – 5 tips & tricks
March 27, 2025
It is always difficult to find an apartment or apartment in a new city if you don’t know the area. In Vienna, the search for accommodation is made more difficult by the fact that the cheaper offers are reserved for “real Viennese”. In concrete terms, this means that the city decided the following in summer 2015: Anyone who has had their main residence in Vienna for 5 years will be brought forward by 3 months on the waiting list for council apartments. Those who have been registered there for 15 years will even benefit by 9 months. This is good for all Viennese, less good for migrants and guest workers from Germany. We have therefore looked at how non-Viennese can still find something on the highly competitive free real estate market.
Word of mouth
Tell your friends, acquaintances and work colleagues that you are looking for an apartment in Vienna. This can ensure that you receive apartment offers that are not yet listed online or elsewhere. In Austria, it has not yet been established that the person who hires the estate agent bears the costs. With this dose of vitamin B, you could be lucky enough to find accommodation more cheaply and, above all, more quickly.
Use social media channels
As with real word of mouth, it is also important that you let your contacts know that you are looking. Ideally, you should already have a concrete idea of what you are looking for: number of square meters, desired districts, approximate time frame for the move.
Express realistic wishes
The previous tips are based on the fact that you know what you want, but can also realistically assess your wishes. For example, it’s not much use putting out a search query saying you’re looking for a 100 m² apartment in the 1st district for €500. The more objective your idea is, the more likely it is that someone will have a suitable offer for you.
Pay attention to costs that are not tendered
If you want to be on the safe side and make sure that the offer you are looking at is fair in terms of price, you can search online for a rental price calculator for the city of Vienna and compare offers from the neighborhood. You should also consider hidden costs, such as ancillary costs like heating costs in an old building or whether the apartment needs renovation and is furnished. If the apartment is furnished, ask about the transfer payments for the kitchen, kitchen appliances and washing machine, for example. Do you have to pay estate agent costs? And how much is the deposit to be left?
Move into our SMARTment
If you are in Vienna for a limited period of time, for example 3 months, then save yourself all the stress and come straight to us. We have a new SMARTment opening in the Teddy Kollek Haus near Vienna Central Station from December 1st. Fully furnished, fully equipped and with no hidden costs.
If you follow these tips & tricks, you are more likely to find your dream apartment in Vienna or at least have a stress-free time in Vienna. As the housing market in Vienna is overcrowded, the search will be hard enough, so we’ll keep our fingers crossed for you!
