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Vienna (pte044/31.01.2003/11:41) - Living costs in the Austrian capital Vienna, which is now ranked 17 in a survey of the world's most expensive cities, are set to continue to rise, according to the Austrian Association of Real Estate Trust Companies (OeVI) http://www.ovi.at/. With the EU expansion to the east, the association expects a growing shortage of housing, as well as higher rents across the country.
Vienna is expected to be especially hard hit, as the city council has cut back on housing subsidies. Head of the Vienna housing department Werner Faymann from the Social Democrats rejected criticism that the city of Vienna had failed to deal with the problem. He said: "For the moment 5,000 subsidised apartments are enough for Vienna's housing market." But People's Party spokesman for housing Georg Fuchs said he had warned the city council of the difficult situation months ago but that nothing had been done about it. He added: "We expect rents to increase within in the next five to six years due to this self-made housing shortage." Fuchs added that annually some 7,000 additional apartments would be needed to avoid the looming shortage.
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