Real Estate Sale Made Easy? In Conversation with ohne-makler.at

Since the beginning of the year, ohne-makler.at has also been active in Austria. The platform is aimed at owners who want to sell or rent their properties without an agent. In the conversation, Managing Director Hendrik Richter reveals how the company perceives the Austrian market and how the real estate market is currently developing.

How does ohne-makler.at differ from traditional real estate platforms like willhaben or Immoscout24?

Hendrik Richter: Both platforms pursue a rather broad approach. This makes our specialized offering significantly different from both. We target private owners who want to market their property themselves. To this end, we provide an affordable, time-saving, innovative, and user-friendly platform for transparent renting and selling of real estate. This is intended to make life easier for both sellers and landlords as well as buyers and tenants. Our goal is to make real estate simple. In doing so, we develop exactly the products that private sellers and landlords need to market their property professionally.

What differences have you noticed between the German and Austrian markets so far, apart from size?

HR: A major similarity is the large proportion of rented properties. We see this in both Germany and Austria. Vienna, Berlin, Graz, Hamburg: In these cities, tenants form the overwhelming majority. However, if you look more closely, you will notice that the home ownership rate in Austria is slightly higher.

Both countries are also characterized by identical problems: Overpriced, non-transparent, and slow real estate sales cost all parties involved in the sale too much money and time. The desire for intelligent solutions is therefore even greater.

However, Austria shines in the digital sector. This is relatively easy compared to Germany. Especially in the fields of authorities and banking, Red-White-Red is ahead of Black-Red-Gold. Also, the real estate agent business in Austria is much more regulated than in Germany.

German markets are easier to access from the outside, while Austrian markets are very regional, sometimes local.

You advertise that you are significantly cheaper than an agent, but of course, it should not be overlooked that you also forego some services that an agent offers. Why should customers still choose you?

HR: Because there is no agent service that you cannot do yourself: Calculating the value of a property, obtaining all documents relevant to the transaction, creating images, writing an exposé, posting ads online, talking to and negotiating with interested parties: No agent is required for this.

Delegating responsibility in this area often leads to non-transparent processes and, in the worst case, even results in a lower selling price while incurring higher costs. It's better to take the decision into your own hands and do it better.

According to the statistics on your website, the purchase prices/m2 for apartments have significantly decreased between 2021 and 2023. Why?

HR: A central reason is the interest rate development. Construction interest rates have risen. This increased financing costs, making loans more expensive. This caused considerable headaches for many interested buyers during this period.

Buying a property became partially unaffordable. As a result, demand decreased or shifted from expensive houses to smaller, more affordable apartments. Consequently, sellers of houses and large apartments had to lower their prices. This was also reflected in the prices.

How many properties were sold through ohne-makler in 2025?

HR: In 2024, we recorded over 100,000 rentals and sales through our platform. In 2024 alone, our customers saved over 350 million euros in brokerage fees. This year, we were able to top that. As of now, we are already at over 370 million euros. A significant portion of this comes from Austria, even though the brokerage fee here is lower than in Germany.

What trends can you currently observe in the demanded and offered properties? Is there a discrepancy?

HR: Much revolves around the price in both Germany and Austria. On one hand, property prices and rents are generally very high, especially in urban areas. On the other hand, buyers want to pay as little as possible due to credit costs, and tenants want to pay as little as possible due to general living costs.

This is reflected in market activity. New constructions and energetically renovated properties find buyers more quickly. The demand is high and supports high prices. Older buildings with high energy costs have a harder time in the market, which slightly lowers their prices. Exceptions are prime locations.

What does the ideal apartment for Viennese people look like? What is most in demand?

HR: Clearly, the inner-city districts that are modernly connected and offer an attractive lifestyle are in demand. Besides the first district, Hietzing and Währing are also popular, as they score with proximity to the Vienna Woods and parks, respectively.

Leopoldstadt, Favoriten, and Donaustadt are also in high demand because they offer a high quality of living in close proximity to the city center. This applies equally to renters and buyers.

Where is Vienna currently the cheapest or most expensive?

HR: If you're not lucky enough to find an absolute bargain in the best downtown location, the rule is: apartments on the outskirts are cheaper. Properties are particularly expensive in the districts within the Gürtel, as well as in the so-called Cottage Belt in Währing and Döbling.

According to our data, properties in the districts of Innere Stadt, Josefstadt, and Neubau can cost significantly over 10,000 euros/m². In Simmering and Favoriten, on the other hand, prices of under 4,500/m² and sometimes under 4,000 euros/m² are common.

For rentals, according to our data, surprisingly, bargains for under 13 euros/m² are sometimes possible in the 4th district, Vienna Wieden. However, rental apartments in Penzing are really cheap, sometimes under 10 euros/m². On the other hand, the districts of Innere Stadt, with rents that can far exceed 25 euros/m², as well as Neubau and Rudolfsheim-Fünfhaus, where rents over 20 euros are common, are particularly expensive.

This does not mean that living on the outskirts must immediately come at the expense of quality of life and connectivity. Both can be well harmonized in decentralized locations. This is shown, for example, by the southern outskirts like Simmering and the southern Donaustadt, which sometimes appear rural but are very well connected and have good infrastructure.

How is the behavior of property owners changing in the current market situation?

HR: Owners who sell in the current market situation are doing so with less and less fear of financial losses. This is a difference from the aforementioned phases of interest rate changes.
Today, energy efficiency is becoming increasingly important. Typical questions are: What about energy costs? What renovation obligations are pending? What role does this play in price negotiations?

These and other aspects are playing an increasingly important role in price determination. Owners are becoming more confident and are less frequently being significantly bargained down.

However, location still remains a significant factor. Anyone selling a property in Vienna, perhaps even in the inner city districts, can expect high demand. This also applies to properties that may still need energy renovations.

How do you deal with fake listings or fraud attempts?

HR: First of all, we have each individual listing checked by our own algorithms for irregularities as well as by artificial intelligences. If the algorithm shows us irregularities, our employees manually check where the error lies. This is done by employees who have been with us for up to 15 years and therefore bring a lot of experience. If something seems suspicious to us, the listing is immediately removed.

Of course, we also work with a corresponding online registration process that contributes to the verification of offers. Customers can thus rely on our expert team. This includes telephone consultations, questions about identification, or very general topics in the digital real estate business. With these measures, we want to ensure that our products are not only affordable, innovative, fast, and high-quality, but also 100% safe.

The year is slowly coming to an end. What is the balance for ohne-makler for 2025? What do the numbers look like in Vienna?

HR: We are very satisfied with our first year in Vienna. Since January, we have been recording a growing number of listings from Viennese customers who want to sell or rent their property through us without commission. With our services, our customers in Vienna have already been able to save over two million euros in brokerage fees this year. In addition, we have taken over the platform Mietguru.at. This gives our customers even greater reach for their listings, and we are building on an already established local presence.

We therefore remain committed to our stated goal from the beginning of the year: to become the largest commission-free platform for real estate sales in Austria by 2028. We see ourselves on a good path so far.

What are your hopes for 2026?

HR: We expect a further recovery of the real estate markets. This means stabilized prices, shorter negotiations, and more transactions.

Provided that no new geopolitical, severe crises occur. Against this background, we will be a valuable support with our convenient products for private individuals who want to sell or rent their property without a broker.

Here is our real estate special.

(Red)

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