Buying
What a Makler costs a buyer in Austria
Austria's Bestellerprinzip covers rentals only, so on a purchase the buyer still pays up to 3.6 percent, and no change to that is planned.
English
Where private sellers actually list in Austria
Each of these is a separate pool. A saved search on one tells you nothing about the others, so set up alerts on every one you intend to use.
- Anyone.com Listed by the owner
Homes listed directly by the people who own them, which in Austria is the only reliable way to know that provisionsfrei really means no commission rather than a Bauträger or a Genossenschaft sale. You agree the price with the owner, and the contract is drawn up the same way it always is.
More than 31 million active listings across 31 markets, agent-represented and owner-listed together. willhaben carries agency and private listings across a general marketplace.
Search owner-listed homes ↗ - willhaben Owners can list
Buyer filter A Privat option alongside the commission-free filtering, though check the current labels yourself
The dominant Austrian marketplace, and a classifieds site first, so private owners genuinely do list here. It is the largest single pool of Austrian owner listings and the first place to look.
- derStandard Immobilien Owners can list
Buyer filter No structured filter. Buyers get at it by typing provisionsfrei into the full-text search
A weaker implementation than the German portals, and that is useful to you: where a site has no proper filter, fewer buyers are looking at the same listings.
- ohne-makler.at and keinmakler.at Owners can list
Buyer filter Private sellers only, and sellers are labelled privater Anbieter or gewerblicher Anbieter
Small, genuinely private, and worth checking precisely because the numbers are small. These sites label the seller type explicitly, which is the thing the big portals blur.
- findheim.at Owners can list
Buyer filter Provisionsfrei, listed under the property features
Shows thousands of commission-free Vienna flats where the dedicated private-sale sites show dozens. That gap is not a contradiction, it is the Bauträger and Genossenschaft stock. Useful, as long as you read the seller on each listing.
How many homes this really covers
Genuinely private Vienna sale listings run to dozens on the dedicated sites, not thousands. Austria's private market is thin, and most of what is advertised as provisionsfrei is developer or cooperative stock rather than an owner selling their own flat. Search the private sites for what they have, and use willhaben for volume.
The Bestellerprinzip, and what it does not cover
Since July 2023 whoever instructs the agent pays them, but the rule was written for residential tenancies and says so. Purchases fall outside it and are governed by the ordinary Maklergesetz, under which both parties can be charged. This is the single most misunderstood thing in the Austrian market: people read about the reform, assume it applies to buying, and are surprised by an invoice. It does not, and nothing suggests it will.
In force since 1 July 2023, for residential letting only. Read the legislation
Buying one, step by step
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Budget the Nebenkosten before you look at prices
Grunderwerbsteuer at 3.5 percent, Grundbuch registration, contract drafting and the agent's 3.6 percent together put Austrian purchase costs among the highest in Europe, commonly quoted at 10 to 12 percent of the price. None of it is financeable in the way the purchase price is.
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Check whether the Hauptwohnsitz fee relief still applies
A waiver of the Grundbuch and Pfandrecht registration fees for a main residence up to €500,000 ran until mid-2026. Confirm its current status before you budget, because those two lines are worth about 2.3 percent of the price between them.
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Read provisionsfrei carefully
It can mean the seller is a private owner, or that a Bauträger is selling its own new-build, or that it is a Genossenschaft flat. Only the first gives you a person to negotiate with. Check who the advertiser is before you get attached to the number.
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Sign nothing at a viewing
An agent's fee follows from what you agree with them, so read anything put in front of you at the property rather than afterwards. If you found the flat privately, keep it that way.
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Pull the Grundbuch extract
It is public. Your lawyer or notary will get it, and it shows the owner, any mortgage, and any rights registered against the property before you commit anything.
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Complete through Treuhandschaft
The purchase price goes into escrow with the notary or lawyer, and is released once registration is secured. Never pay a seller directly.
Check before any money moves
- The Grundbuch extract: registered owner, mortgages, easements and any Belastungs- und Veräußerungsverbot
- Whether the price is subject to Grunderwerbsteuer at 3.5 percent and what the total Nebenkosten come to
- For a flat, the Wohnungseigentumsvertrag, the Rücklage balance and any refurbishment already agreed
- The Energieausweis, which the seller must provide
- Whether the property is a Genossenschaftswohnung, where what you buy and what you can later sell both work differently
- Any outstanding Baurechtszins or Erhaltungspflichten attached to the property
Selling one instead? See where to list a home yourself in Austria , or the full guide to selling without an agent in Austria .
Common questions
Does the Bestellerprinzip mean I no longer pay the Makler?
Not when buying. The 2023 reform applies to residential letting. Purchases are still governed by the Maklergesetz, which allows both parties to be charged, and there is no plan to extend the reform to sales.
How much can an Austrian agent charge a buyer?
Up to 3 percent of the value above €36,336.42, or 4 percent at or below it, plus 20 percent USt. That is 3.6 percent gross on a normal purchase, and the seller can be charged the same again.
Does provisionsfrei mean I am buying from a private owner?
Often not. A large share of commission-free Austrian listings are new-builds sold by the developer or cooperative flats, where no commission arises for a different reason. Check the advertiser rather than the label.
Do I need a notary or a lawyer?
Yes, one of them draws the contract and holds your money in escrow until the Grundbuch registration is secured. That is the real protection in an Austrian purchase and it has nothing to do with an agent.
Where do private owners actually advertise?
willhaben for volume, then ohne-makler.at and keinmakler.at, which label the seller type explicitly. derStandard has private listings but only a full-text search to find them, which is awkward and therefore less picked over.
Sources
Every legal, tax, and process claim on this page traces to one of these. We re-check them on a schedule and date the page when anything changes.
- Maklergesetz and the 2023 Bestellerprinzip for residential lettingRechtsinformationssystem des Bundes · ris.bka.gv.at
- Maklerprovision Österreich 2026: Leitfaden zum BestellerprinzipBrandauer Rechtsanwälte · brandauer-rechtsanwaelte.at
- Kaufnebenkosten 2025 und 2026 in ÖsterreichBrandauer Rechtsanwälte · brandauer-rechtsanwaelte.at
- Provisionsfreie Wohnungen von privat in Wienohne-makler.at · ohne-makler.at