Austria: cross-border payments and remote closing

A buyer who lives abroad meets the same Austrian process as a local: a written contract, a trustee who holds the money, an entry in the land register. What changes is the distance, the extra approval for some nationalities and the questions about where the money comes from. This briefing is for agencies and developers.

How an Austrian purchase runs

• The parties agree the price, and the contract is drafted by a notary or a lawyer. How much that costs depends on the arrangement with the professional; one Austrian law firm gives no fixed percentage.
• For a buyer from a third country the contract is subject to approval by the provincial land-transfer authority. Until then it is suspended.
• The price is paid into a trust account of a notary or a lawyer, which is the usual route in Austria, and is released under the contract terms.
• Ownership arises on entry in the land register, called the Grundbuch, and not when the contract is signed.

Check each step with the notary or lawyer who handles the file. We read the process in secondary summaries, not in the statutes.

What a buyer pays besides the price

One Austrian law firm lists the main costs for 2026.

• Real estate transfer tax: 3.5 percent of the price for an ordinary paid purchase.
• Ownership registration: 1.1 percent of the price.
• Mortgage registration: 1.2 percent of the loan, not of the price.
• Broker fee: capped at 3 percent plus 20 percent VAT for each party. Austrian law does not follow a rule that only one side pays, so each party can engage and pay its own broker.
• The notary or lawyer who drafts the contract and the trustee, according to the agreement; no fixed figure is given.

The same firm suggests budgeting roughly 10 to 12 percent of the price for a financed purchase through a broker. It says that is a planning figure and not a legal flat rate. Lower transfer-tax rates exist for special cases such as transfers within a family, and we have not covered them.

Money from abroad

• Tell the buyer to pay only into the trust account named in the contract, in writing, and never to an account sent by email without a call-back to a number you already hold.
• Expect the trustee and the bank to ask about the source of funds. A summary we read mentions close scrutiny of the source of funds by banks and trustees. Ask for the documents early: salary slips, a sale contract, a tax assessment or a bank statement showing the history of the money.
• Austria is in the euro area. A buyer who holds another currency will convert, so ask them to check the rate and the date the funds reach the account.
• A payment from a third party, such as a relative or a company, needs its own explanation and its own checks.
• Do not accept cash, and do not take a part of the price outside the contract.

Remote closing

A buyer who cannot travel may be able to act through a representative with a power of attorney. We did not verify the form Austrian notaries and the land register require, so ask the notary or lawyer before the buyer signs anything abroad. Ask three questions.

• Can the contract be signed through a representative, or must the buyer appear?
• Which form must the power of attorney take, and does a document signed abroad need legalisation or an apostille and a translation?
• Does the trustee accept the power of attorney for payments and release?

For a third-country buyer the approval application also needs the buyer's reasons and documents, so start it before you plan the signing.

Timing

Add the approval time, which sources give as several weeks to several months, to the time for the contract, the trustee and the registration. Tell remote buyers that the sequence is fixed and that money does not move before the approval.

Mortgages for non-residents

The Austrian regulation that capped loan-to-value and debt-service ratios expired on 30 June 2025, but banks are reported to keep roughly 20 percent equity and a debt-service ratio well below 40 percent of net income as internal standards, and to ask non-residents for more equity. These are broker and market-news summaries, not the central bank, so ask the bank for its current terms before you tell a buyer a loan is possible.

Pitfalls to avoid

• paying a deposit to an agency or developer account when the contract names a trustee
• starting a remote signing before the state approval is clear
• assuming that an EU passport settles a municipal leisure-residence rule
• promising a mortgage to a non-resident

What to tell a remote buyer

• who will act for them in Austria, and with what authority
• which documents they must prepare, and in what form
• how much to budget on top of the price, as a range, and why
• that the trust account is the only account to pay into
• that the buyer is not the owner until the land register entry is made

The client-side checks for the same file are in our briefing on serving expat buyers in Austria.

Working with D.H. Realting

D.H. Realting is a trilingual (Russian, English, Polish) overseas-property platform. We introduce buyers, including expats and cross-border buyers, and support the process. Agencies that handle the deal locally and want to be introduced to such buyers can contact us through our partners page.

This briefing is informational only and is not legal, tax or investment advice. Facts were checked on 12 October 2026 from the sources named in the text; rules change, so confirm with a local lawyer before relying on any point.