Tag Archives: Editor’s Choice

Four times a year the rate of interest used to set the rents in Switzerland is reviewed. If the aggregate average mortgage rate goes down some renters can request lower rent. If it goes up some landlords can raise rents. This time the rate remained at 1.25%, however it was close to moving to 1.5%. Photo by Ketut Subiyanto on Pexels.comThe interest rate used to set the rent reference rate was the average rate on Swiss mortgage loans outstanding at 31 December 2022. The average rate this...

In December 2022, parliament sent a recommendation to the Federal Council to increase state pensions by the rate of inflation. However, this week a parliamentary majority voted not to, reported RTS. © Mcxas | Dreamstime.comThe Federal Council had already boosted state pensions by 2.5% from 1 January 2023 before calls were made to bump them up by 2.8% in line with the increase in the consumer price index (CPI) in 2022. On 1 March 2023, 97 versus 92 (1 abstention) members of parliament...

Upward pressure on prices continues in Switzerland. Recently published data show annual inflation rising to 3.3% to the end of January 2023, up from 2.8% at the end of 2022. © Sam Lee | Dreamstime.comPublic sector workers in parts of Switzerland have been demanding salary increases. In Vaud they have been demanding indexation. Looking back across a longer period of time Swiss inflation doesn’t look so bad. Between the end of 2010 and the end of 2022, prices have risen by 2.5%. Focusing...

In 2021, 1.4 million households in Switzerland owned their home, 36.3% percent of all households, according to statistics published on 23 February 2023. © Stbernardstudio | Dreamstime.comThe rate of homeownership in Switzerland has remained fairly stable since 2000. Back then it was 34.6%. After rising to 38.4% in 2016, it has declined gradually to where it is today (36.3%). Cantons with the lowest rates of homeownership tend to be urban and expensive. Basel-City (16.0%), Geneva...

More and more soil is being impacted by drought. Clay soils in particular are affected by drought. These soils expand and contract depending on their water content and often crack when dry. Building on them can be risky and requires a particular structural design. © Zimmytws | Dreamstime.comHome owners in parts of France have already been impacted by recent dry spells. Roughly half of France is at risk of the effects of droughts on clay soil and 10 million homes have already suffered...

On 15 February 2023, Switzerland’s federal government published finalised figures showing it spent CHF 4.3 billion more than it received in 2022. Excluding extraordinary expenses related to the Covid pandemic left an underlying operating deficit of CHF 1.9 billion, the first shortfall of this kind since 2005. © Marekusz | Dreamstime.comSwitzerland’s federal government is required to operate under a system known as a debt brake. This requires it to achieve a breakeven budget over a...

After a rising number of attacks on cash machines across Switzerland, Migros Bank has decided it will probably close all of its machines overnight, reported RTS. © Denis Linine | Dreamstime.comLast year, at least 38 cash dispensing machines were blown up and robbed across Switzerland. The most recent attack at the end of January 2023 was on a machine in the town of Neuendorf in the canton of Solothurn. In 2021, the explosive charge used on one machine was so large that it destroyed...

Since 1 December 2022, contracts that online platforms often get hotels to sign to stop them offering prices lower than those offered via the platform are no longer legally enforceable in Switzerland due to a change in law. This week, broadcaster RTS published the results of a market test it performed to see if the legal change had had any effect. © Boumenjapet | Dreamstime.comRTS checked the prices of 287 rooms across Switzerland directly on hotels’ own websites and via the platform...

The 2022 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), published on 31 January 2023, shows that most countries are failing to stop corruption. The CPI ranks 180 countries and territories around the world by their perceived levels of public sector corruption, scoring on a scale of 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean). © Ngampol Thongsai | Dreamstime.comThe global average remains unchanged for over a decade at just 43 out of 100. More than two-thirds of countries score below 50, while 26 countries...

When workers in Switzerland change employers they typically take their salary-based pensions with them. However, if they leave the country without making any pension transfer arrangements, after six months, their pension money ends up with the Substitute Occupational Benefit Institution, a kind of backstop holding place for forgotten pensions. © Ginasanders | Dreamstime.comAt the the end of 2022, the organisation held around CHF 5.6 billion of unclaimed money, reported RTS. The names,...