- Use the same building condition, time horizon and scope of costs for every alternative.
- Consider building costs, ancillary costs, financing, time and temporary accommodation together.
- Show hoped-for additional proceeds separately from firm offers and the personal benefits of living in the property.
What decision must the house enable you to make?
First describe your goal: to live there for many more years, move soon, reduce your workload or release capital. These goals lead to different decisions, even for the same building. Note a realistic decision date and the requirements of your future housing arrangements. A high sale price alone does not answer where you will live afterwards or at what cost.
Have necessary maintenance and safety measures identified first. The Vienna Building Code requires owners to maintain the building appropriately. This question cannot be answered solely by reference to hoped-for additional sale proceeds. Comfort measures, such as a different layout or higher-quality finishes, are then assessed separately. This prevents required work from appearing to be an optional investment that could simply be omitted without further assessment.
Foundations: RIS [1]
Compare specific packages of measures
Renovation is too vague a concept for a calculation. Define a limited package specifying building components, scope of work, intended condition and implementation date. Replacing a heating system with the necessary adaptations is a different project from replacing a single appliance. For interrelated work, clarify sequencing and technical coordination, for example between the building envelope and the heating system.
Vienna's Hauskunft service offers guidance on renovation and also helps develop renovation plans. Use advice of this kind to narrow down options and identify the appropriate next professional commissions. Initial guidance is not yet an implementation-ready design or a binding quotation. Subsidies should only be taken into account once the current requirements and necessary application procedure for the specific project have been clarified.
Foundations: Stadt Wien [2]
Put three alternatives on the same footing
The matrix should first make differences visible. Enter either an evidenced amount, a justified assumption or 'unresolved' in each field. If you plan to continue living there for longer, include running costs and later major works. For a sale, the marketing period, actual handover and subsequent housing arrangements are relevant.
| Question | Continue using | Renovate and use | Sell |
|---|---|---|---|
| Immediate work | Required maintenance | Maintenance plus the chosen package | Required measures and specific preparation |
| Funding needs | Running costs and foreseeable repairs | Total costs, bridging finance, reserves | Transaction process and next housing arrangements |
| Time and disruption | Current daily routine and upkeep | Planning, permissions, building work | Viewings, clearance, moving |
| Benefit | Familiar location and existing rooms | Specific improvements in living quality | Flexibility or released capital |
| Greatest uncertainty | Future repair needs | Cost, duration and actual effect | Achievable price and handover date |
Which costs belong in the calculation
Obtain quotations with comparable scopes of work. In particular, check planning, site setup, scaffolding, dismantling, disposal, associated connection work and VAT. Ask about services expressly excluded. Add temporary accommodation, storage, financing and any additional running expenses. A contingency should reflect specific remaining uncertainties; it does not replace investigation of known damage.
Payment timing also matters for liquidity. Sale proceeds expected later cannot pay a progress invoice due today. Therefore compare available equity, firm financing commitments and payment dates. Do not treat a subsidy application as money already available. The tax consequences of a sale or later use should be clarified separately using the property and acquisition documents before a remaining net amount is used as a basis for a decision.
When renovation before sale becomes plausible
Compare the expected proceeds in the current condition with the proceeds after a precisely defined package. Deduct the additional costs incurred only under the second alternative. Use consistent assumptions about price levels and sale conditions. The market context is essential: spending on new finishes does not imply an equal increase in price. § 7 LBG emphasises prevailing market conditions when deriving value.
Then test a less favourable scenario: lower additional proceeds, more expensive work or later completion. If even a small change reverses the decision, it is not very robust. If you intend to stay longer, extra comfort may justify a consciously accepted outlay. Describe this personal benefit explicitly instead of building it into a supposedly certain sale price. For cash flows spanning several years, the time value of money and later residual values must also be treated consistently on a professional basis.
Foundations: RIS [3]
Entirely fictional calculation: a higher price, a smaller surplus
All figures are invented and are not Vienna market values. Within the same simplified price environment, a house is assumed to be worth 620,000 euros in its existing condition and 680,000 euros after a specific renovation package.
- The assumed additional proceeds are 680,000 minus 620,000 = 60,000 euros.
- Additional building work of 45,000 euros, planning and ancillary services of 8,000 euros, and additional financing, time and accommodation costs of 12,000 euros amount to an additional outlay of 65,000 euros.
- Before individual tax effects and other differences, the result is 60,000 minus 65,000 = minus 5,000 euros. If the additional proceeds were only 40,000 euros, the result would be minus 25,000 euros.
- Costs shared by both sale alternatives are not included again in this differential calculation. To establish the assets actually available, all costs, debts and tax consequences would need to be shown separately.
In this example, the higher sale price alone does not justify the package. For longer-term owner-occupation, the personal housing benefits would also need to be assessed.
Your next assessment steps
Record what you have already clarified and which documents you still need.
Define the goal and time horizon
Which alternative suits your future housing situation?
Where can I obtain the supporting information?
Record the intended move or period of use in writing.
Separate maintenance from preferences
Which work is required and which is optional?
Where can I obtain the supporting information?
Assess technical findings and the list of measures together.
Prepare complete quotations and a payment schedule
Will all funding needs be covered on time?
Where can I obtain the supporting information?
Coordinate comparable specifications, financing and equity.
Check sale assumptions and a less favourable scenario
Does the decision still hold with lower additional proceeds?
Where can I obtain the supporting information?
Have the current condition and the specifically renovated condition valued separately.
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Sources and date
The following sources support this main article. For your specific property, current documents and the applicable conditions matter.
- RISVienna Building Code § 129: use and maintenance of buildings
- Stadt WienHauskunft: renovation advice for houses with a future
- RISProperty Valuation Act § 7: choice of valuation approach
Editorial date: 11/09/2026. Examples explain relationships and do not contain an individually prepared property valuation. Editorial work and sources.
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