The Austrian government is planning to spend €1 billion ($1.08 billion) to boost the country's sluggish housing construction sector, Chancellor Karl Nehammer and Vice-Chancellor Werner Kogler announced on Tuesday.
The taxpayer's money is to be invested to create 10,000 owner-occupied homes and 10,000 rental flats as well as on the refurbishment of 5,000 existing flats, they said.
In addition, the governing coalition of Nehammer's conservative Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) and Kogler's Greens is looking to provide the federal states with money for low-interest housing loans.
Meanwhile, the fees that come with the purchase of a home, for example for entry in the land register, will be cancelled for the first property up to a value of €500,000.
The measures are to apply for the next two and a half to three years.
According to the Austrian Institute of Economic Research (Wifo), construction investment fell by 5.2% year-on-year in the third quarter of 2023. Residential construction was particularly weak, the institute reported on Tuesday.