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A. Hengstermann, A. Schindelegger, A. Maurer:
"A comparative perspective on secondary homes policies in touristic areas - Austria, Germany and Switzerland";
Vortrag: 14th Conference of PLPR, Usti Nad Labem; 18.02.2020 - 21.02.2020.

Secondary homes are popular real estate especially in alpine and coastal touristic regions - for recreational as well as profit-oriented purposes. However, a substantial share of secondary homes in small villages leads to manifold problems, such as a) displacing locals in the long run due to an intensified competition on the land market with rising prices, b) a loss in tax revenue for financing infrastructure or c) underusement of social infrastructure. Policy has acknowledged those problems and developed several approaches to reduce new developments and manage the existing secondary homes stock.
The present paper aims to analyze secondary home policies in three federally organized countries, Austria, Germany and Switzerland, and to compare those policies systematically. Both, the analysis as well as the comparison are based on a public policy analysis model.
The analysis shows that while similar phenomena occur with extensive secondary home development, the policies rely on different logics. In Switzerland, secondary homes are perceived as structural threat for the alpine cultural landscape. Whereas in Austria and Germany, negative effects of secondary homes on the land and housing market are valued as main problem. However, similar interventions are taken - even though on different levels. In Switzerland, a maximum share of secondary homes per municipality has been introduced into constitutional law - thus action is taken on national level. In Austria, especially the alpine states introduced regulations in planning law (in zoning plans; by the need for permits) to restrict new developments and added additional tax obligations for second homes. In Germany, municipalities are made responsible to develop appropriate measures, in particular by applying statutes to contain misappropriation of the housing stock.

second homes, Alps, planning law, property rights