So I already knew the housing situation was bad this side of the Röstigraben, but now it looks like there's even more to feel depressed about: not only are vacancy rates continuing to drop, but rents are increasing at the highest rate in the country, more than twice the national average.

According to this article in today's 24 Heures, for the 9th consecutive year the vacancy rate has dropped in Lausanne, and it is now standing at 0.1%. The vacancy rate for the entire canton is still only 0.5%, which means we're still a bit better than folks living in the canton of Geneva, where the rate is 0.19%. The print edition of the article (couldn't find this info online for some strange reason) says rents increased in Lausanne at a record rate last year (+4.1%), which is more than twice that of Zurich, and also more than double the national average.

I found some more interesting info on the Statistique Vaud website. In June of this year, there were a total of 66 vacant lodgings in the entire city of Lausanne. In comparison, Morges had 81 and Aigle had 255.

Statistique Vaud led me to the Swiss Statistics Office, which is a really interesting website to peruse. Apart from interesting housing-related statistics (interested in seeing the average rental prices for apartments of a certain size over the past 15 years? or national variations in ownership versus rental of lodging?) it's got info on just about everything. It's a very cool website.

Anywho. In case anyone's interested...

Heather

¨
a report on rent "gouging" in Geneva

	Quote:
	Rents charged in canton Geneva are increasing by an average of more than 18 percent when flats and houses change hands, according to official data. The Swiss tenants association, ASLOCA, says expatriates arriving in the canton are particularly vulnerable to excessive price hikes by landlords or property managers.

Well crap, I guess it's not a good time to be looking for an apartment in Lausanne...

According to this article in today's 24 Heures, for the 9th consecutive year the vacancy rate has dropped in Lausanne, and it is now standing at 0.1%. The vacancy rate for the entire canton is still only 0.5%, which means we're still a bit better than folks living in the canton of Geneva, where the rate is 0.19%. The print edition of the article (couldn't find this info online for some strange reason) says rents increased in Lausanne at a record rate last year (+4.1%), which is more than twice that of Zurich, and also more than double the national average.


Anywho. In case anyone's interested...

Heather[/QUOTE]
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great post...0.1% for Lausanne is really bad, considering that 2% is considered the usual vacancy rate for any city or town.

So how do people get a flat ?

Thank you... though I feel like <groaning>

Normally, it takes a lot of leg work, hope, then frustration, then repeat that process many times. After one to three months, you might get lucky. Alternatively, you can know someone who is trying to get out of a lease early and then apply for their place before they advertise it more widely. The latter strategy has been far more successful for us than has the former one.

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How about the 'ask the company to organize the flat' strategy ?

If they really want you to work for them....

no ?

Thanks for the link, Polorise.

What they discuss in this article is definitely supported by the statistics. Being the nerd that I am, I decided to look a bit more into housing prices in Geneva. There are a bunch of excel files on the Canton of Geneva Statistics website (yes, this is what I do in my free time on a Monday evening) that give average values for various rent-related parameters.

File 1 says the average (i.e. median) monthly rental for a 4-piece apartment (i.e. two bedrooms+lounge+kitchen, or what would be a 3-piece place in Vaud) in the city of Geneva in 2008 is 1304 CHF. However, according to file 2, the average price for 4-piece flats in the city of Geneva that have been leased to new renters within the past 12 months is 1674 CHF, which is a whopping 28.6% above the average rental price. (Note that the numbers I've quoted include both subsidised and non-subsidised housing; the average price for a new rental, non-subsidised 4-piece in Geneva city is currently 1750 CHF.)

Not good.

HM

PS-Reading all this reminds of what some Swiss-German friends told me their mantra was when they were flat-hunting in canton Bern a few years ago. They said that no matter how grim they thought their housing prospects looked, they stayed optimistic by reminding themselves that "Things could be worse: at least we're not in Geneva."

Come to Fribourg, I'm not aware of any housing problems here, only 45mins by train to Lausanne.

Or live in France. You can even commute to work by ferry!

Agreed! We live in a relatively new (10 years old) appt complex in Villars sur Glâne just outside Fribourg, 1/3 of which are unoccupied and they recently completed 4 blocks next to us, again 1/3 unoccupied and are constructing yet another 4 blocks beyond the new ones. It is a great location too, with an unprecedented view of the Préalpes.