Real Estate & Construction

We support you in maintaining and increasing the value of your investments and help you manage and optimise your current portfolio. In doing so, we consider macroeconomic relationships in combination with your current position in the market cycle. In addition, we can tailor our services to your needs relying on our expertise in real estate and making use of tools from other asset classes.

We support companies in implementing the international best practice standards of the real estate finance industry. Our services help companies to put into place the processes, operations and structures that are necessary for optimum portfolio and corporate management in an audit-ready manner. We advise decision makers at every level of a real estate company and jointly roll out changes to create an optimal balance between risk and potential success.

In the relatively new area of REFS, we offer support on all questions regarding financing as well as the tax and accounting treatment of your financing structure, both at the asset/portfolio level and at the corporate level. Based on our many years of experience in these areas, we provide you with optimal advice from our PwC experts and can put you in touch with our close network of financial partners.

In this area, we focus primarily on manufacturing, retail & consumer, and service companies whose core business is not real estate. Our service covers the procurement, management, and utilisation of real estate. One of our most important tasks is to adapt the CREM methodology used to the respective corporate strategy.

Whether annual and consolidated financial statements or special audit services and certificates: objective judgments by external auditors increase the reliability of information for all decision-makers.

In addition to traditional audit services, our clients benefit from audit-related advisory services. These include, for example, accounting advice, IT system auditing services, cyber services, or services in the real estate sector.

Requirements for the preparation of annual financial statements have steadily increased in recent years. PwC has consistently optimised the organisation and processes of audits. As part of the international PwC network, our audits of course also meet international standards.

Our assurance services include audits of incorporations and restructurings (in particular, mergers, demergers, and contributions), closing financials for real estate share deals, and purchase price adjustments. In the case of investment companies under the ImmoInvFG, we also undertake an audit of financial statements. In addition to this, we also offer confirmations in connection with turnover-based leases.

We can assist you with your annual and consolidated financial statement audits in accordance with UGB, IFRS and US GAAP. We offer ongoing advice, in particular in the area of UGB and IFRS. For IFRS, our services particularly include investment property and financial instruments as well as IFRS conversions. If required, we will also be happy to prepare purchase price allocations according to UGB and IFRS for you.

Furthermore, our range of services includes IT security audits and consulting as well as the assessment and analysis of internal control systems including control reports (ISAE 3402 reports). We will also gladly assist you in the field of internal auditing.

Nowadays, the real estate industry is characterised by complex issues and a multitude of standards and laws that require sound legal advice. These topics affect builders, project developers, and institutional real estate investors as well as sellers and buyers of apartments, detached homes, and land, but also landlords and tenants, property managers, and real estate agents.

The real estate team at PwC Legal will assist you in finding a tailor-made legal solution for your situation in order to give you complete legal certainty with regard to your concern. We focus on your objectives and interests and help you achieve the desired result quickly and efficiently.

Our experts have many years of in-depth consulting practice in all aspects of real estate law. National and international investors and institutional buyers in Austria rely on our expertise just as much as family businesses and private customers with special projects.

Legal advice and support for real estate transactions

Every large-volume real estate transaction, whether via asset deal or share deal, is a highly complex process in which many details must be taken into account. We will identify the requirements for the intended transaction, advise you in your choice of the legally optimal transaction structure, including tax aspects, and assist you as legal advisers in drafting and negotiating the purchase agreement, through signing and closing it, up to the final post-closing steps.

We also have many years of experience in carrying out due diligence reviews and will prepare a needs-oriented report for you in order to identify any risks in advance and to be able to take them into account properly in the purchase agreement.

Support and settlement of property development projects and project developments

We advise both property developers in the construction of residential complexes and project developers in the implementation of hotel or logistics projects and take care of all legal aspects. This includes, for example, legal support in obtaining a building permit (and, if applicable, an operating licence) as well as drafting and negotiating the relevant planning and construction contracts, such as general planner agreements, general contractor agreements, or overall construction manager agreements, and also legal advice on facility management.

We then support you in the legal implementation of the intended use, regardless of whether it is the sale of apartments within the framework of the BTVG or the conclusion of existing contracts (rental or lease agreements) with third parties such as retailers, hotel operators or logistics companies.

Special concerns of real estate law

Our real estate legal advisers are there for you in all areas: Be it shared working spaces, smart living, micro apartments, student housing, logistics or industrial construction projects, the hotel and leisure industry – we take care of commercial lease agreements, sale-and-lease-back agreements, trusteeships, or due diligence reviews.

Furthermore, we advise both companies and individuals on all types of purchase and lease agreements. We will be happy to support you in all legal matters, regardless of whether you want to realise your personal dream of buying a detached house, a plot of land, or an apartment, or if you are interested in acquiring a property as an investment.

We will also advise you if you want to rent or lease your property and will be happy to answer any questions you may have dealing with land register or land transfer law, building regulations, or regional planning and property law.

Legal advice: targeted, solution-oriented

Real estate projects of all kinds and real estate law itself require high-quality legal advice down to the smallest details. But we also keep an eye on the economic aspects: Outstanding service and effective solutions make all the difference. We deliver and provide exactly what you want and need – no more, no less.

Additional Legal Services

Real estate transaction advice

• Advice on transactions on the buyer or seller side

• Transaction structuring including tax structuring in cooperation with firms from the PwC network, including the establishment of investment structures

• Conducting due diligence reviews

• Advice on share and asset deals, forward and forward funding deals

• Taking over of trusteeships

Legal advice on project development

• Advice on real estate transactions, building permits, and operating licences

• Advice on real estate development, in particular in connection with planning and construction contracts

• Advice on exits, both through a real estate transaction or utilisation in accordance with the BTVG

Ongoing advice on real estate law

• Comprehensive, ongoing support for investment structures

• Advice in connection with commercial leases and sale-and-lease-back agreements

• Advice in connection with other real estate contracts such as building rights and superaedificate agreements, easement agreements, and the like.

Special industry expertise

• Advice in the hotel and leisure industry, in particular on the acquisition or sale and development of hotel properties and on hotel rental, leasing, or management contracts, as well as on ‘mixed-use’ concepts with accommodation facilities / hotels / student residences

• Advice on logistics and industrial construction projects

• Advice in connection with shared working spaces, smart living, micro-apartments, and student accommodation

Within the scope of our tax advisory services, we primarily offer the following services:

Transaction advice

PwC has developed flexible solutions to provide investors with competitive advantages in the market and to facilitate real estate transactions:

• Advice on real estate investments – buy-side deal support services

• Advice on property disposals – sell-side deal support services

When it comes to real estate transactions, the PwC Real Estate team offers you an interdisciplinary approach:

• Comprehensive support with real estate transactions in Austria and other European countries

• Interdisciplinary approach (e.g. covering real estate / financial / tax and legal matters)

• Regional expertise in an international real estate network

• Transparent and efficient process management

• High flexibility – dedicated teams

Tax advice for real estate funds

• Tax conception of national, international, and multinational fund structures at the time of initiation

• Ongoing tax advice (including reporting in accordance with § 40 ImmoInvFG)

• Transaction advice with regard to investment law and tax matters when acquiring domestic and foreign properties

• Tax advice for restructuring distressed real estate funds and liquidating real estate funds

• Restructuring real estate funds for tax purposes

• Analysing target funds for institutional investors from a tax, non-tax, and investment law perspective

• Advising institutional investors on tax and supervisory law

Ongoing tax advisory services

• Preparation of tax returns, accounting, and annual financial statements

• Supervision of tax audits

• Advisory services with regard to real estate transfer tax

• Tax optimisation of real estate portfolios

• Tax conception of refinancing operations

• Advice on the holding or sale of real estate in the private sector (e.g. concerning real estate income tax)

• Real estate valuations for tax purposes (e.g. to determine the land portion of a rented building)

• Services in connection with the tax assessment of investment apartments and builder-owner models (e.g. forecast calculations for the tax recognition of the model)

Tougher competitive conditions, the concentration on core business areas, as well as quantitative and qualitative changes in business locations constantly affect the value of real estate. A realistic assessment of the current value of real estate is relevant for various economic activities. PwC's valuation team will advise you in matters relating to the valuation process in the real estate sector, taking into account the requirements of the market.

We prepare both individual and portfolio valuations for:

• Austrian and international transactions

• accounting (e.g. UGB, IFRS) and tax (e.g. GrundanteilV 2016) purposes

• portfolio management and case-by-case decisions

• various industries and market participants

In addition to industrial enterprises, banks and insurance companies, our clients also include real estate funds, real estate and housing companies, and the public sector.

Our team evaluates real estate, infrastructure, and networks in accordance with Austrian and international valuation systems. Your advantage: We provide all services within the framework and with the support of the global PwC network.

• Valuation of assets

• Development and establishment of valuation management systems

• Preparation of fairness opinions

• Company valuations

  • Independent appraisals and opinions

  • Valuations for accounting purposes

  • Valuations in the context of transactions

  • Strategic analyses of value drivers and business plans

  • Valuations in connection with legal disputes

  • Valuations for tax purposes