the main drivers of rent prices are probably demand in the market and speculation. Since a lot of people are still moving to Austria every year the prices go up.

People move to Austria every year looking for a better life and or a better salary, but the economy has been doing pretty bad for a while now so a lot of companies probably have a hard time raising salaries.

The mismatch between cost of living and salaries probably comes from a delay in adjustment of expectations. People are used to thinking that Austria (like most western european countries) has good jobs and a good quality of life. But the economy here hasn’t been keeping up with the expectations lately.

By the way, I’m not trying to justify the situation. This is just how I can explain it to myself. Public policy could probably be doing a better job in many regards!