Switzerland’s housing market tightened further in 2026 to reach a vacancy rate below 1% for the first time since 2013. On June 1st, 45,493 homes stood empty, according to the Federal Statistical Office (FSO), equivalent to 0.93% of the housing stock.
That was 0.07 percentage points lower than a year earlier. The number of vacant homes fell by 2,962, or 6.1%. It was the sixth consecutive annual decline in the vacancy rate, which has fallen by 0.79 percentage points since 2021.
The squeeze has coincided with a sharp rise in rents and a marked shift in the ownership of rental housing. Between 2000 and 2023 the share held by institutional investors, including pension funds, insurers and property companies, rose from about 31% to 44%. Over the same period, private and non-profit landlords lost ground.
Of the vacant homes, 34,690 were available to rent and 10,803 for sale. The number of vacant rental properties fell by 6.7% from a year earlier; those for sale declined by 4.1%. Vacancies also fell among newly built homes and detached houses. On the reporting date, 6,496 detached houses and 3,910 homes built within the previous two years were empty.
Vacancies fall in almost every region. Six of Switzerland’s seven major regions recorded lower vacancy rates. The sharpest falls were in eastern Switzerland, north-western Switzerland and Ticino. Greater Zurich was the exception, where the rate edged up to 0.52%.
Fifteen cantons had vacancy rates below 1%. The lowest rates were in Zug (0.20%), Geneva (0.31%) and Obwalden (0.38%). Vaud was at 0.87%; it was the only canton in French-speaking Switzerland apart from Geneva to fall below 1%. Other cantons below 1% were Uri, Schwyz, Zurich, Nidwalden, Lucerne, Glarus, Graubünden, Basel-Landschaft, Basel-Stadt and Schaffhausen.
Jura had the highest rate, at 3.35%, followed by Solothurn, at 1.91%, Ticino at 1.78% and Neuchâtel at 1.64%.
Vacancy rates fell across homes of all sizes. The steepest percentage decline was among two-room flats.
The Swiss Tenants’ Association warns of costly new supply. Building more homes does not necessarily make housing more affordable, argues the association. Much new construction is concentrated at the expensive end of the market, it said on Thursday, while cheaper homes are steadily disappearing.
The association also accused some landlords of exploiting the shortage by demanding excessive rents and breaching legal limits on returns.
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