This week the bank UBS and the consulting firm EY released their 2016 real estate reports. UBS says home prices are expected to fall for the first time in 17 years. EY is bearish on some sectors but more sanguine on home prices. UBS highlights affordability issue The main brake on home prices is affordability according to […]
Switzerland’s 117 metre vertical forest
In 2017 a vertical forest will begin to rise from a building site located in Chavannes in west Lausanne. The tower will rise to a maximum of 117 metres and be covered with trees equivalent to around one hectare of forest. The tower’s designer is Milan-based architect Stefano Boeri. Already in Milan Two similar towers, […]
Geneva’s housing shortage attracting fraudsters
Tribune de Genève. This week the Geneva daily went undercover and identified one of many fraudulent advertisements for apartments in Geneva. Responding to an advertisement on the website immostreet.ch, they were given a false name, told they couldn’t view the apartment because the owner lives abroad, and asked to send funds to a bank account […]
A look inside the IKEA houses Switzerland plans to use for refugees
20 Minutes. Instead of housing refugees in army tents, one Swiss canton has decided to experiment with flat-pack IKEA houses. They cost around CHF 1,000 and can be put up in four hours. With a floor area of 17.5 m2, each one is designed to shelter five people. One of the biggest problems with tents […]
Bubble risk in Swiss property market stays elevated, UBS says
Brought to you by Investec Switzerland. Risks to the Swiss real estate market remained “practically unchanged” at a risky level in the third quarter, kept in check by stagnant nominal owner-occupied home prices and declining investment demand for condominiums. The UBS Swiss Real Estate Bubble Index rose to 1.38 points in the three months through […]
Housing vacancy rates jump in some regions of Switzerland
Recent statistics from the Federal Office of Statistics (OFS) show a marked rise in housing vacancies. From 2010 until 2014, vacancy rates across Switzerland were below 1%. By 1 June 2014 the rate had crept up to 1.08 and by 1 June 2015 it was 1.19%, with 15 cantons registering rates over 1%. On 1 […]
Earthquakes a serious hazard for parts of Switzerland
The Swiss Seismological Service (SED) at ETH Zurich recently completed ten years of earthquake research. Their new model shows that earthquakes are a serious hazard for Switzerland and the natural hazard with the greatest potential for causing damage. The SED published a model showing possible future earthquakes and the associated ground movements, which vary by […]
Swiss urban pressure and Paris law destroying French villages
Swiss reluctance to ruin its own idyllic countryside in the Lake Geneva region combined with French laws enabling unfettered urban development is leading to the rapid destruction of the historic centres of numerous villages in neighbouring France. Edward Girardet and Christopher Woodburn explore why Paris no longer seems interested in ‘Patrimoine’, once one of the […]
Swiss real estate bubble index rises significantly
The UBS Swiss Real Estate Bubble Index rose significantly in the second quarter of 2015 and now stands at 1.37 index points. The report says that the housing market is still caught up in an investment property boom. House prices and private household mortgages went up disproportionately relative to Switzerland’s weak economy. The Index rose […]
Swiss rents set to drop
Every three months the rate of interest used to set Swiss rents is reviewed. If it goes down some renters have the right to request a decrease in rent. On 1 June 2015 it was reduced from 2.00% to 1.75% so many currently have a chance to reduce their rent. The interest rate used to […]
