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. The 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 […]
Risk of cracks rising for houses built on clay
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. Home owners in parts of France have already been impacted by […]
Swiss rents and property prices up in 2022
A sharp rise in rent in December 2022 (+1.1%) left the average Swiss rent 4.3% higher than at the beginning of 2022, according to the Swiss Real Estate Offer Index, published on 4 January 2023 by SMG Swiss Marketplace Group. This annual jump of 4.3% exceeds the annual CPI increase of 2.8% announced this week. […]
Covid: no exodus to the countryside, says study
On 22 December 2022, Switzerland’s Federal Housing Office (FHO) published a report entitled Housing preferences in the wake of the Covid pandemic, which shows only a modest shift in preferences for living in less densely populated areas. Living and relocation behaviour in Switzerland changed only slightly during the Covid pandemic, said FHO. A rising preference […]
No rise in Switzerland’s rent rate
Every three months the rate of interest used to set the rents in Switzerland is reviewed. If it goes down some renters have the right to request a decrease in rent. If it goes up landlords can push up rents. This time the rate remained at 1.25%, however it looks set to rise next year. […]
Swiss rents set to rise as much as 15 percent
Close to half of renters is Switzerland could face significant increases in rent, estimates Zürich Kantonalbank (ZKB), with rents potentially rising as much as 15% over the next five years, reported the newspaper Blick. The reference mortgage rate used to set rents, which was has been 1.25% since March 2020 could rise as high as […]
Bank predicts home rent rises in Switzerland
According to the bank Raiffeisen, a future rental housing crisis is likely in Switzerland as the home vacancy rate moves below 1% in 2024, reported 20 Minutes. The combined forces of higher construction costs and higher interest rates have reduced the number of homes being built, said the bank. This combined with the continued growth […]
Swiss government decides to review plan to axe imputed rent
Every year, home owners in Switzerland must add imputed rent to their taxable income, creating an unusual additional tax on home owners introduced during the 1940s to fund budget shortfalls. Switzerland’s government has agreed to remove the tax. However, this week, parliament sent the latest plan back to the drawing board, reported 20 Minutes. Some […]
Swiss housing market tightens further in 2022
Data published on 12 September 2022 show how the pool of available housing continues to shrink in Switzerland. On 1 June 2022, there were 61,496 empty dwellings in Switzerland, representing 1.31% of the total housing stock. The vacancy rate has fallen 0.23 percentage points compared to a year ago. There were 9,869 fewer empty dwellings […]
Switzerland abandons 1 franc house offer
In 2019, the village of Gambarogno in Ticino offered abandoned houses known as “rustici” to anyone prepared to renovate them for 1 franc. Last week, the scheme ended without anyone taking up the offer. The scheme was inspired by similar schemes in Italy. However the Swiss offer ran into challenges. Some were practical and others […]
