Tag Archives: Property

At 37% of the total, one-person households are now the most common way to live in Switzerland, according to recently published data by Switzerland’s Federal Statistical Office (FSO). Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.comThe data from 2022, show that 37% of households contained one person, followed by the 32% that contained two, 13% that contained three, 12% with four and 5% with five or more. This does of course not mean that 37% of the population lived alone. Households of five or...

On 18 September 2023, the Council of States, Switzerland’s upper house, followed parliament in passing changes to Swiss tenancy laws that make life easier for landlords, reported parlament.ch. Two changes reduce tenants ability to sublet and make it easier for landlords to end rental contracts. Housing Switzerland © Thomas Stoiber | Dreamstime.comSupported by 25 versus 11, the upper house passed a new rule that prevents tenants from subletting a property for longer than 2 years. The new...

Switzerland has one of the tightest housing markets in Europe. Only Iceland has fewer empty homes. On 1 June 2023, only 1.15% of homes were empty across Switzerland, according to data from the Federal Statistical Office (FSO). Luzern Switzerland © Marekusz | Dreamstime.comAcross the whole country there were fewer than 55,000 places available to those looking for somewhere to live, 6,700 fewer than at the same time in 2022, wrote the Federal Statistical Office (FSO), a drop of 10.9%....

Home rent could rise 15% in Switzerland by 2026, according to Martin Tschirren, the head of Switzerland’s federal housing office, reported RTS this week. © Elenaphotos | Dreamstime.comTschirren thinks the rental reference rate could rise again over the coming year or two – the rental reference rate is an officially computed figure that reflects average mortgage rates. It is used to set rent levels in many rental contracts in Switzerland. It is reviewed quarterly and the latest rate was...

This week RTS published a map showing which Swiss municipalities have the highest numbers of private swimming pools. Photo by Perfecto Capucine on Pexels.comSwimming pool champions are clustered mainly in Italian- and French-speaking Switzerland. Three of the top ten municipalities are in Ticino, five in Geneva and two in Vaud. Only the commune of Binningen in Basel Landschaft in German-speaking Switzerland makes the top ten. Lugano, in Italian speaking Switzerland, tops the list with...

Between October 2020 and April 2023, Swiss building construction costs rose by 13.9%. On an annualised basis the cost of building has been rising at a rate of 4.3% over this period, a rate higher than general inflation – the consumer price index rose 2.6% over the year to the end of April 2023. Photo by Yury Kim on Pexels.comBuilding costs rose 1% during the month of April 2023, compared to a general consumer price index rise of 0.2%. The worst affected regions were north west...

Every year, home owners in Switzerland who live in their properties must add an imputed rent to their taxable income, adding to their tax bill. The system was introduced in the 1940s to fund government shortfalls during the war. A number of politicians and members of the public have tried for roughly two decades to remove it without success. This week, parliament voted in favour of a plan to phase it out, reported RTS. Photo by ILOVESwitzerland on Pexels.comHowever, removing imputed rent...

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 rose from 1.25% to 1.50%. Higher rents are likely to follow. Photo by Mikhail Nilov on Pexels.comThe interest rate used to set the rent reference rate was the average rate on Swiss mortgage loans outstanding at 31 March 2023. The average rate this time...

On 15 May 2023, the Federal Statistical Office published its latest residential property price index. During the first quarter of 2023, average Swiss home prices fell by 1.2%, leaving them 3.9% higher than a year before. Photo by marishalaugh on Pexels.comStand alone houses dropped in price by 1.3% while apartments lost 1.1% of their value over the three months to 31 March 2023. Homes losing the greatest value during the quarter were stand alone houses in rural areas (-4.5%). Apartments...

A report published on 4 May 2023 cites land scarcity as the main reason behind Switzerland’s housing shortage. Photo by Max Rahubovskiy on Pexels.comIn the 20 years between 2001 and 2021 Switzerland’s population grew from 7.3 to 8.7 million, a rise of 1.4 million residents or 19%. And with annual net immigration of around 50,000, building enough homes to house everyone in Switzerland is an ongoing challenge. The survey, which aimed to understand the housing situation in cities and...