Although rents and real estate prices have risen, a lot of building land in Austria still lies fallow. In total, one fifth of the designated areas are unused. The proportion is particularly high in Burgenland, where a special tax on building land is now due. In Tyrol, municipalities are countering land speculation with building bans. The WWF criticizes the "generous to wasteful" designations of the past to the APA and calls for a review of old burdens and new designations.

63,000 hectares of designated building land lie fallow

Throughout Austria, 63,000 hectares of building land are unused. This is one fifth of the building land and corresponds to the area of the cities of Vienna, Graz, and Salzburg. Particularly striking in the data collected by the Austrian Conference on Spatial Planning (ÖROK) is Burgenland. Here, the "building land reserve", i.e., the designated but not yet built-up areas, is 30 percent of the total building land.

Burgenland relies on special tax against fallow land

In total, the municipalities of Burgenland have designated almost 6,900 hectares of building land on which nothing has yet been built. This means that, mathematically, 228 square meters of building land are available for every Burgenlander.

This is a peak value: In Styria, the building land reserve is 22 percent, in Carinthia and Lower Austria around 21, and in all of Austria 20 percent. The proportion of fallow land is comparatively low in Upper Austria (17.6 percent), in Tyrol (15), and in Salzburg (13 percent). In Vienna, building land is already a scarce commodity. Here, only 6.6 percent of the designated areas are free.

To counteract this, Burgenland has been levying a special tax since this year. For the "building land mobilization levy", between 0.5 and two percent of the value of undeveloped plots are due per year. How much the tax brings financially is still unclear. However, according to the responsible infrastructure councilor Heinrich Dorner (SPÖ), the levy has already paid off. He points to the sharp decline in free areas from 38 to 30 percent. Since 2022, 471 hectares have been newly built, but only 26 hectares have been additionally designated. "This shows that our measures to mobilize unused building land are working," says Dorner.

Affected ÖVP mayors are not convinced. They reject the mobilization levy in line with the state party. They also do not necessarily see high "building land reserves" as a problem. For example, Johann Weber, mayor of Eberau (Güssing district). Here, 64 percent of the building land is free - an Austrian record. However, this is not speculation, Weber emphasizes to the APA: "The building land reserve is historically conditioned." Eberau is a "street village" with residential houses in front, barns in the back, and building land in between.

Harald Brunner, ÖVP local chief in Weichselbaum in the Jennersdorf district with a "building land reserve" of 52 percent, cites another reason for the fallow areas: "In the countryside, everyone who has building land keeps it for the next generation. No one gives anything away." In exposed locations, they have already rezoned. "But that doesn't always work."

Building bans are coming in Tyrol

Tyrol also wants to introduce a tax on unused building land in 2026. Individual municipalities have even imposed building bans on plots to prevent speculation on rising prices. For the Ötztal municipality of Umhausen, the Constitutional Court confirmed this ban in October. Here, one-fifth of the designated areas are undeveloped. The state capital Innsbruck (eight percent "building land reserve") has also decided on building bans for individual plots. Part of it is to be allocated to subsidized housing.

WWF warns of land consumption and demands rezoning

From the perspective of the environmental protection organization WWF, the full mobilization of existing building land is not always the best solution. "Building land mobilization should not be an end in itself," says WWF soil protection expert Simon Pories. He advocates building only in central locations with good connections to (transport) infrastructure. Remote areas should be questioned and, if necessary, rezoned to preserve as much unsealed soil as possible, Pories tells the APA: "For the earthworm living in the meadow, it doesn't matter whether it has been designated for 40 years or two months. If it is sealed, it loses its habitat."

(APA/Red)

This article has been automatically translated, read the original article here.