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Property in Switzerland: A roundup of the latest news and updates

Helena Bachmann
Helena Bachmann - [email protected]
Property in Switzerland: A roundup of the latest news and updates
Prices of apartments are rising in Switzerland. Photo by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash

Thinking of buying a house, moving house, investing, or just curious about the state of the property market in Switzerland? Here’s a roundup of the latest news you need to know about.

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Scarcity of land drives up Swiss property prices

In the past five years, median house prices have continued to rise in Switzerland, with the cost of land increasing by 50 to to 70 percent.

But "the availability of such building land remains limited", according to Michel Fleury, real estate market specialist at Raiffeisen Bank.

In a small country like Switzerland, land zoned for construction is scarce, "especially where demand is highest, that is, around large urban centres", he said.

Buying real estate therefore becomes more expensive and prices will remain high in the future, regardless of the level of inflation, Fleury noted.

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Apartment and single home prices are still rising

The market for condominium apartments in Switzerland is tightening. In August, the price per square metre rose 1.8 percent in one month to about 7,916 francs.

This means that 100 square metres of living space is now offered for sale at 790,000 francs on average, "which constitutes a new record", according to the Swiss Real Estate Offer index. ImmoScout24 and real estate consultancy CIFI.

But there is good news for tenants: rents have fallen by an average of 0.5 percent in August, although there are large differences between the regions.

In the Lake Geneva area and in the Mittelland they went up by 0.3 percent, but decreased by 0.1 percent in the northwest and 0.4 percent in the center of the country.

READ MORE: Why is Geneva’s rent the highest in Switzerland?

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A novelty on the Swiss real estate market: apartments on Instagram

Real estate investment foundation Ecoreal is looking for tenants for small flats via Instagram and is hiring influencers for the first time.

“Today I'm showing you a one-room and two-room model apartment. Plus, there is also a small competition: You can win the interior design for your apartment", influencer Haya Raya narrates, as his camera zooms in on the fiber optic network, the storage space and the fenced dog run in front of the building. The video already has over 5,700 views on Instagram.

Raya, has over 29,000 followers on Instagram advertises micro-apartments in Zurich’s Schlieren district for Ecoreal, which is hoping to attract prospective tenants for 173 apartments.

"We want to find out whether it makes sense in the future to advertise rental apartments only via social media instead of the classic real estate platforms," said  Ecoreal’s executive board member Lea Bürgi

 

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A post shared by Hamza Raya (@hamza.raya)

Did you know? You can ask for a rent reduction in Switzerland in certain situations.

In Switzerland the tenant is entitled to request a rent reduction from the landlord in the event of a defect in the rented premises that hinders or restricts the use of the rented property (Art. 259d para. 1 CO).

A defect exists when “the actual condition of the premises deviates from the agreed conditions, i.e. when the rented premises do not provide the qualities promised in the rental agreement or the qualities which the tenant could legitimately expect based on the agreed use” (ATF 135 III 345 consid. 3.2 p. 347 and references).

More information can be found here:

Renting in Switzerland: Can I pay less when my landlord renovates the apartment?

Useful links

Looking for a house or an apartment in Switzerland or just want a little more information about the property market, then check out the following links. 

Rent: Swiss cantons ranked from cheapest to most expensive

Property: In which Swiss cantons are homes the cheapest – and the most expensive?

Reader question: How do I challenge my rent in Switzerland?

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The property roundup is new addition and we’d welcome any feedback or suggestions for areas it should cover. Please email us at [email protected]

 

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