Broker: “Housing market is getting even tighter”
economy
The fact that landlords will have to pay brokerage fees in the future will lead to a further shortage of supply in the already tense Salzburg real estate market. The spokesman for the Salzburg real estate agents is now warning of this.
It is said that this is a consequence of the change in the law, which means that those who hire the real estate agent pay them. It is not yet possible to estimate how much specifically the generally accessible real estate market will shrink, says the spokesman for the Salzburg real estate agent Christian Schnellinger.
With the new regulation, however, it is foreseeable that future tenants who are looking for a new tenant for an apartment will also want to pocket the commission themselves, says Schnellinger. “The effects of the orderer principle have already been seen in Germany. There it happened that people looking for an apartment were confronted with money demands from previous tenants. Furthermore, one must state very clearly that the mediated real estate agent has so far taken into account both the interests of the landlord and those of the tenant.”
“Rents threaten to rise further”
“If in the future only the landlord has to bear these costs, then the broker WILL also only have the interests of the landlord in mind. And that WILL – I fear – give tenants’ protection associations, courts and the Chamber of Labor additional work in drawing up correct rental agreements and appropriate rents,” says Schnellinger.
For brokers and their employees, the change in the law will have massive negative effects. “96 percent of brokerage firms in Salzburg are small businesses. Such an intervention WILL result in many brokers having to lay off employees. And if the supply of apartments becomes even scarcer, rents will also continue to rise,” warns Schnellinger.
Currently only Tyrol with even higher rents
In Austria, only Tyrol is currently ahead of Salzburg in terms of rents, according to the latest analyses.