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Simeon Mitropolitski is a Canadian analyst, of Bulgarian origin, and a former syndicated columnist with the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA). He is the author of several hundred articles dealing with hot political and economic topics, both national and international.

He was part of the first group of Bulgarian intellectuals and students that began the opposition movement that finally put an end to the communist regime in this country in 1989, and in 1996-1997 participated in international observation teams during the elections in several Balkan countries - Romania, Albania and Bulgaria.

In 2002 Simeon and his family moved from Bulgaria to Canada where they live now in Montreal, province of Quebec. Simeon is a Master of Political Science from McGill University and a B.A. of Political Science and History.

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The main factor pushing ahead the commercial real estate market in Austria in the recent years is the fact that this small country of 8 million became a member of the European Union of 370 million*. Beginning in January 1999 the country also became a member of the Economic and monetary union of the EU. That means that Austria entered the internal circle of the EU (Eurozone) where countries from 2002 will share common monetary unit - EURO and where even today they have common bank interests set by the European Central Bank.

The introduction of the EURO has already begun to influence very positively the European business climate and has accelerated the process of corporate mergers and acquisitions. These acquisitions have bigger impacts on the real estate markets in smaller European countries such as Austria because these transactions mean very often that offices are changing the tenants. The bigger these tenants are, the more likely their presence on the real estate market will push the rents up. The continuing process of internal liberalization of the financial services within the EU also means that more and more big players will dispute the prime office spaces while the builders are trying to catch up with the sudden influx of affluent clients.

These positive incentives on the commercial real estate market in Austria can be seen more or less in the other smaller EU countries too. The major difference between Austria and these other countries came from two developments in the recent couple of years which were believed to have had some limited negative impact on the Austrian commercial real estate market.

The first of these negative impacts came with the war in Kosovo in 1999. Austria shares common border with one of the former Yugoslav republics Slovenia and every crisis in the South-Eastern Europe is considered to be a threat for the business climate in the German-speaking state. The other negative development came from the participation in the state government of the extreme right Liberty party**. This resulted in months-long political sanctions from the other European Union member states, from the USA, Israel and other countries from Europe and elsewhere.

Even within such negative business environment the commercial real estate market in the capital city of Vienna has shown remarkable resistance in the recent couple of years. The rents for the prime offices in the city center maintained their previous levels of $25-30/sq.meter per month (1 sq.meter=10 sq.feet). Rents of the modern office spaces in the business parks on the city outskirts range between $12 and $18/sq.meter while the second class offices in good condition can be rented for $8-12/sq.meter.

Sustained retail properties demand in the recent years resulted in the rents increase in the prime and second class properties within the city center. They can be found for $150-250/sq.meter per month and $100-150/sq.meter per month respectively. Retails in the secondary locations could be rented for $40-60/sq.meter per month. It is expected that the rents for prime locations will rise in the coming years while on the secondary locations they will remain flat or even will experience some fall.

The process of globalization and attracting of major international players from the information and communication sectors resulted in the recent years in a steady increase of the prices and rents in the technology oriented industrial parks. In the last couple of years the industrial spaces were sold for almost $300/sq.meter. Prime warehouse rents in modern business parks around Vienna vary between $7 and $10/sq.meter per month, while older accommodations can be found for $4-6/sq.meter per month.

* - Austria became a EU member in 1995.

** - Some experts believe there is a strong link between the wars in former Yugoslavia and the rise of extreme right groups in Austria. They say that the influx of immigrants and refugees from the former Yugoslav republics in the 90s has created a sense of threat among the common Austrians that resulted in the rise of anti-foreigner feelings.

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See also the directory of companies providing real estate services in, and general real estate information of Austria.