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Today in Switzerland: A roundup of the latest news on Friday

Helena Bachmann
Helena Bachmann - [email protected]
Today in Switzerland: A roundup of the latest news on Friday
It's good but not worth the price. Image by Steve Buissinne from Pixabay

Mortgage rates to go up again; search is on for clueless ice cream customer; and other latest Swiss news in our roundup on Friday.

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Mortgage interest rates will rise again this year, experts say

Even though mortgage rates have already increased since in 2022, they will go up again by the end of this year, experts predict.

The Zurich Cantonal Bank estimates that the market average for a five-year fixed mortgage will reach 3.25 percent at the end of 2023. For a ten-year fixed mortgage it will rise to 3.3 percent.

The most advantageous mortgage in the current situation is Saron, at 2.6 percent.

The reason for the sharp rise is the assumption among economists that the Swiss National Bank will continue to raise its key rate this year, according to Dennis Eicker, a real estate expert at Moneypark comparison site.

READ ALSO: What is Switzerland’s ‘SARON’ mortgage? 

Cross-border workforce has grown this year

At the end of March, there were approximately 386,000 cross-border workers employed in Switzerland — 6.1 percent more than in the same period in 2022, according to data released on Thursday by the Federal Statistical Office (FSO).

Most of the workforce (56.4 percent) came from France, followed by Italy (23.7 percent), and Germany, 16.7 percent.

Looking back over the past  years, their number has increased by nearly 21 percent.

READ ALSO: Who can work in Switzerland but live in a neighbouring country? 

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 Ice cream vendor searching for overly generous customer

A 600-franc price tag for a scoop of ice cream is just a tad too much, even for expensive country like Switzerland.

The manager of an ice cream shop, the “Dulcet handmade” in Aarau, made a chilling discovery: a customer who bought a scoop from a mobile ice cream bike on Wednesday afternoon mistakenly ‘Twinted’ a 600-franc payment, instead of 6 francs.

“We are assuming the customer didn’t intend to leave a 594-franc tip,” the manager told local media.

For some reason, the shop can’t either identify the client by his Twint account, or send the money back electronically, so it is taking to social media to find the customer, who has clearly not yet discovered the exorbitant charge.

Weekend weather forecast: variable but warm

Last time we checked it was still spring, and Thursday’s sunny and very warm weather in most areas of Switzerland has confirmed that.

While the temperatures will remain mostly sunny and warm, showers and thunderstorms are expected to douse all Swiss regions on Sunday.

You can check out the forecast for the next six days for your area here.  

If you have any questions about life in Switzerland, ideas for articles or news tips for The Local, please get in touch with us at [email protected]
 
 

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