The charm of Vienna is almost proverbial. In the metropolis on the Danube, past and present mingle; a slightly nostalgic flair drifts through the city without diminishing the achievements of modernity. A number of international organizations such as the OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe) or OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) are based in this university city, and Vienna is also one of Europe's most important conference and congress centers.
Housing in Vienna – expensive and hard to find
Like Munich or Frankfurt, Vienna suffers from an acute housing shortage. Anyone wishing to settle in this interesting metropolis should start their search early. The real estate boom has a firm grip on the city; rents and prices for private real estate and land in the greater Vienna area continue to rise. At the end of 2012, there were the first warnings of a real estate bubble, and the price per square meter for exclusive properties in Vienna's city center has now reached record-breaking levels. For apartments in a building that was only ready for occupancy in 2014 with a view of St. Stephen's Cathedral and the Hofburg, between twenty-five thousand and thirty thousand euros per square meter were paid. Due to strict tenant protection and the fact that around sixty percent of rental apartments in Vienna are still owned by the municipality or cooperatives, rents in this sector at least remain within affordable limits, while on the free rental market they are slowly rising boundlessly. According to a Bank Austria study, the number of households at risk of poverty due to unreasonable housing costs has risen to sixty percent since 2008. In the outer districts of the city, chic apartments can still be found at affordable prices.
Understatement with elegance – Vienna's home furnishings
Austrian living culture, like that in Germany or France, is shaped by history. Every country and every metropolis has its own style, and Vienna is no exception. In the capital of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, elegance was always important; names like Wiener Werkstätte, Thonet, or Biedermeier are inextricably linked to courtly culture. By the middle of the 20th century at the latest, tastes had changed; the stiffness of the Biedermeier period, which still dominated Vienna after the Second World War, disappeared in favor of a new tolerance, yet the old values remained. In the 21st century, combinations of furniture from the past with modern design furnishings are popular—noble, simple, and unobtrusive. Art Nouveau and Biedermeier furniture dominate, and with the addition of knick-knacks, the interiors radiate coziness. This light and friendly ambiance continues in the gardens and on the balconies, a mix of styles for which there is no name. For Vienna, just as for Paris, London, or New York, the sentence of the famous architect and cultural publicist Adolf Loos (1870-1933) applies: "You are always right about your apartment"; what is important is what pleases you and contributes to your own well-being.
