So, how's your apartment costs?

[Syt]

Including utilities (gas, electricity, water) I pay ca. €700.- for my apartment, or €535 without electricity/heating. With internet it's €750.-. For Ca. 55 m² (ca. 590 square feet). It's an old building, badly insulated, and the heating system is not the newest, which is why I pay out the nose for gas/electricity.

It's in a lower middle class area of town, loads of immigrants (Vienna in total has 23% immigrants, ca. 40% with immigrant background; the numbers are significantly higher in my part of town).

I'm looking for a new apartment, but the hunting is slow and painful. Austria has the highest increase in real estate prices in Europe in recent years, mostly driven by Vienna.

The average price for a lease has gone up 33% since 2005, or 80% in case you're looking to buy. On top of that, 2/3 of lease contracts are limited to 3-5 years. Which means every couple years you have to move around unless you find an unlimited contract (which I currently have).

Going through an agent for an apartment lease is expensive: the agent gets 2 or 3 months rent (depending on duration of contract) plus ca. 1 month's rent in fees. The fees are paid by the person who rents the apartment, NOT the owner (who pays nothing to the agent).

Additionally, you pay 3-6 months worth of rent as deposit for the new apartment (but you get the one from the previous apartment back unless your landlord is an asshole and bills you for supposed damages you left behind).

[Maladict]

My rent is €700 excluding utilities for about 100 m2 in the centre of a city of about 200,000 people.
The apartment is fine, but the complex and street it's in are a bit run down. Still, being able to walk everywhere I need to go and still having plenty of space for a low rent, I'm not complaining.

[katmai]

No rent, but Gas, Electric, Water, Garbage, cable comes out to about $550-700 a month. Higher in winter when heat is so much more vital.

[Josquius]

At my old place 60,000 yen a month rent plus maybe under 10,000 in water/electric/gas.
Renting in Japan is a total PITA. Even getting a place costs several months rent. Moving is tough.

[jimmy olsen]

My school pays 90% of my rent.

[dps]

No rent, but the mortgage payment is $200 a month.  Utilities run about $350-$450 a month or so.

[Tamas]

You don`t want to know how much I am paying for a flatshare, but it is not uncommon in these parts and well worth it.

[MadImmortalMan]

Do you have to supply your own appliances, Syt? Lots of the moving abroad shows have properties in your part of the world with no stove, fridge, etc.

[Josquius]

Isn't that normal?

[Syt]

Most apartments in Vienna will have stove top, stove, refrigerator, sink. Some may include dish washer (maybe 50/50). Occasionally a washing machine is there, but that's the exception rather than the rule. And many apartment buildings will have a joint laundry room.

Occasionally you may have a case where someone put a new kitchen into an apartment that they rented and that they will either take it with them when they leave, or expect some money out of you to recover some of their investment.

[Grey Fox]

Isn't that normal?

Not really. Apparently the norm is to have them included.

I am always befuddled when a couple on some Property show is claiming no deal because of the appliances. Just Buy new ones ffs. That an on-suite bathrooms.


Also, my mortage + taxes + electricity = ~1400$ a month on average. I don't pay electricity on a monthly basis & it's significantly higher in the winter since my house is heated by electricity.

[Brazen]

My mortgage is £480 a month for a two bedroom flat. When I used to rent the same flat it cost £775 a month - an identical flat downstairs has just been leased for £1,100 a month.

Utilities, phone/broadband/TV, TV license, council tax and service charge total £360.

So that's around £840 a month in total which is €1026 or US$1390.

After previous "size of property" discussion, an estate agent site usefully informs me it is 44.3 sq m, or 476.8 sq ft.

[Brazen]

You don`t want to know how much I am paying for a flatshare, but it is not uncommon in these parts and well worth it.

I do! I'm guessing £500 a month.

[Tamas]

You don`t want to know how much I am paying for a flatshare, but it is not uncommon in these parts and well worth it.

I do! I'm guessing £500 a month.

1.5 times that. ALTOUGH that includes every cost, and it is a nice en-suite in a brand new building, in the town center,  3 minutes walking from my workplace, and literally next to the train station with direct trains to central London (30-40 minutes) (plus a bus stop I never use), so it is a fair deal I think, when compared to what else is out there around here.

[Brazen]

1.5 times that. ALTOUGH that includes every cost, and it is a nice en-suite in a brand new building, in the town center,  3 minutes walking from my workplace, and literally next to the train station with direct trains to central London (30-40 minutes) (plus a bus stop I never use), so it is a fair deal I think, when compared to what else is out there around here.

Yeah, for all-in that's not bad - half the bills would total around that extra £250.