EHL Investment property report 2025 | Vienna

estate. Institutional investors ranging from insurance companies to funds must concentrate their activities on ESG-aligned properties due to the EU Taxonomy Directive, and the absence of this buyer segment has a negative effect on the pric- es other investors are willing to pay. From

the viewpoint of the long-term investor, there are good reasons to remain focused on, or perhaps give greater attention to, sustainability. A carefully prepared ESG timetable and its implementation are an effective approach, even when legal requirements provide the motivation.

Sustainability can also be pretty… Thermal renovation and the preservation of the historical cityscape are in no way a contradiction, they can actually go hand in hand: At Meissnergasse 2 in Vienna’s 22nd District, an investment property

which had lost most of its traditional exterior details was refurbished. The result: a reduction of roughly 65 per cent in heating requirements and a major aes- thetic improvement with the restoration of the historical facade.

Investment property of the 3SI Immogroup, Messnergasse 2 | 1220 Vienna

After: thermally renovated with a restored historical facade

Before: the investment property with a largely bare facade

Sustainability subsidies in Vienna Subsidies from the Austrian federal government are expiring but, from the current point of view, Vienna’s subsidy programme will also continue after 2025. The most important subsidy pro- grammes are:

insulation of the top floor and cellar ceilings. The amount of the subsidy is dependent on the realised savings and up to 120 Euros/sqm of usable space are possible in many cases. Heating system conversion DThe changeover from gas to an air-heat pump is subsidised at 50 Euros/sqm of living space and the conversion to

geothermal energy at 80 Euros/sqm. In addition, a subsidy of 50 Euros/sqm is possible for every apartment connected to a new sustainable heating system. “Hauskunft“, a service of Wohnfonds Wien, Vienna’s municipal fund for resi- dential construction and urban renewal, provides detailed advising on subsidies (www.hauskunft-wien.at).

Thermal renovation The subsidies cover measures like facade insulation, window replacement,

Vienna | 2025