Can foreigners buy property in Austria?

The essentials in brief

• EU, EEA: treated the same as Austrians. In Lower Austria a statutory declaration (eidesstattliche Erklärung) is enough; in Vienna you can apply for a confirmation that no permit is required (Negativbestätigung).
• Non-EU countries: a permit is generally required. The rules are provincial law and differ from province to province.
• Vienna: the MA 35 decides. A permit can be granted for an urgent personal housing need, an economic interest (an investment that creates jobs) or to round off adjoining land you already own (Arrondierung). Fee: a €130 provincial charge plus a €21 federal fee per applicant.
• Lower Austria: the provincial government decides. The application must be filed within three months of signing the contract. You need an economic, social or cultural interest — or at least ten years of principal residence (Hauptwohnsitz) in Austria.
• Purchase costs are the same for foreigners as for Austrians: property transfer tax (Grunderwerbsteuer) 3.5 %, land register entry 1.1 %, agent's commission up to 3 % plus 20 % VAT.
• Buying property does not get you a residence permit. Austria has no “golden visa”.
• Russia and Belarus: the purchase itself is not prohibited, but payments and deposits above €100,000 fall under EU sanctions rules.

Who counts as a foreigner when buying property?

Acquisition of property by foreigners (Ausländergrunderwerb) is the acquisition of ownership or other rights in a property by a person without Austrian citizenship or by a company with its seat abroad. Each federal province decides in its own land transfer or foreign acquisition act whether and when a permit is needed — in Vienna the Wiener Ausländergrunderwerbsgesetz, in Lower Austria the NÖ Grundverkehrsgesetz 2007.

EU and EEA citizens are treated the same as Austrian citizens. Third-country nationals generally need a permit; there are exceptions — for example in Graz, or in Vienna for purchases by married couples where one spouse is an Austrian citizen. In Vienna, British nationals with residence status under Article 50 TEU and Japanese nationals holding an Austrian residence title also need no permit. In Lower Austria, a company whose capital is mostly held by foreigners also counts as foreign, and arrangements designed to get round the permit requirement need a permit as well.

Which rules apply in Vienna?

In Vienna, a person from a non-EU country needs a permit from the MA 35 (immigration and citizenship) in order to acquire ownership. The authority grants it on one of three grounds:

• Social interest: the applicant's urgent housing need — that is, a flat to live in themselves.
• Economic interest: a substantial investment that creates jobs on the property.
• Arrondierung: the purchase rounds off an adjoining property the buyer already owns.

For the application, the MA 35 needs the signed and certified purchase contract, a current land register extract, your passport and your residence title. A draft contract is not enough. The fee is €130 for the acquisition of ownership plus a €21 federal fee per applicant. Fees for enclosures and for the confirmation of legal effect (Rechtskraftbestätigung) may also apply; the total depends, among other things, on the number of applicants and of the land register folios (Einlagezahlen) concerned. The MA 35's current fee schedule is what counts. The city does not state a statutory processing deadline.

What this means in practice: for a non-EU national, a flat bought purely as an investment, without a personal housing need in Vienna, is very hard to justify on social grounds. Buyers who live in Vienna, or intend to, have the best prospects.

Which rules apply in Lower Austria?

In Lower Austria the provincial government decides. The application must be filed within three months of concluding the contract. A permit is granted only if

1. no national or other public interests are harmed,
2. the buyer has no conviction for an intentional offence with a sentence of more than six months, or for a fiscal offence, and
3. an economic, social or cultural interest exists or the person has had their principal residence (Hauptwohnsitz) in Austria for at least ten years.

Some purchases need no permit, for example a joint purchase with an Austrian spouse and certain transfers within the family. Instead of an application, EU and EEA citizens submit a statutory declaration on the prescribed form.

Vienna, Lower Austria and EU citizens compared

How does the purchase work for non-EU nationals?

The process differs from an ordinary purchase mainly in that the contract only takes effect once the permit is granted.

1. Clarify your status — before any viewings. Your citizenship, residence title, length of principal residence and the purpose of the purchase determine whether a permit is realistic, and in which province.
2. Prove the financing and the origin of the funds. Banks and trustees check where the money comes from. Prepare the documents early.
3. Purchase offer with a permit proviso. The offer and the contract state that the purchase only takes effect once officially approved, and what happens if approval is refused.
4. Sign the purchase contract and have the signatures certified. The purchase price is usually handled via the escrow account (Treuhandkonto) of the notary or lawyer and is paid out only once the conditions agreed in the escrow instruction are met — in particular the buyer's entry in the land register and the release of encumbrances (Lastenfreistellung).
5. File the application with the authority. In Vienna with the MA 35, in Lower Austria with the provincial government within three months.
6. Permit, then the land register. Once the permit is granted, ownership is entered. If it is refused, the contract is unwound as set out in the agreed clause.

What does buying cost for foreigners?

The purchase costs are the same for foreigners as for Austrians: around 10 % of the purchase price, around 11 % with a loan. On top of that come the permit fees and, where necessary, certified translations of documents. All items with worked examples are in our guide Additional costs when buying property.

Do buyers from abroad get a mortgage?

Yes, but on stricter terms. Banks usually require buyers without Austrian income to put in considerably more equity than the usual 20 % plus purchase costs; in our experience 40–50 % is not unusual. Income from within the EU is accepted more readily than income from non-EU countries. More on this in the guide Property financing and in the mortgage calculator.

Does buying property give a right of residence in Austria?

No. Buying a property does not establish a residence title in Austria; there is no “golden visa”. In a residence permit application, your own flat can serve as proof of adequate accommodation by local standards (ortsübliche Unterkunft) — but it does not replace any of the other requirements.

What applies to buyers from Russia, Belarus and Ukraine?

Russia and Belarus. EU sanctions do not prohibit the purchase of property by Russian nationals. In 2024 the European Court of Justice confirmed that notarising such a purchase is permissible. However, Article 5b of Regulation (EU) No 833/2014 prohibits banks from accepting deposits of more than €100,000 from Russian nationals or persons resident in Russia. The exemptions include people holding a temporary or permanent residence title in an EU state. Comparable rules apply to Belarus. Anyone on a sanctions list cannot buy. The bank and the trustee check every case in advance — allow time for this.

Ukraine. Ukrainian nationals are non-EU nationals and generally need a permit. In Vienna the usual ground is their own housing need.

How ImmoLöwin supports you

We check your status before the first viewing, so that you do not waste time on properties for which you could not get a permit. We advise in German, Russian, English and Ukrainian, coordinate with the notary or lawyer and support the application right through to registration. View current properties or book a consultation.