have zurich house prices gone up in the last year?
 

hi ef! yeh i was just wondering. i want to buy a place in zurich and actually, it seems to me that prices have increased quite a bit since 2018/19 when I was looking into buying a house the last time.

tbh im no expert or anything and just wondered a. is it me or have prices increased? and b. is it typical?

i was just reading a few newspaper articles that all say how swiss house prices have been going up up up for a decade and more, so maybe that's just what happens. i know switzerland is called a seller'smarket and that very few people want to sell anyway. you do a house search in the uk and 2000 houses come up. here, like 15!:D:D

Re: have zurich house prices gone up in the last year?
 

In a word yes! The pandemic has seen a huge demand here & in other countries for houses - people want more space & to live outside the city. Saw something from UBS a couple of weeks ago suggesting 5% or more increases in last 12 months depending on location across Switzerland. In reality it’s probably a lot more given the lack of supply & huge demand.

Re: have zurich house prices gone up in the last year?
 

Remember demand is the ability to pay rather than desire. I don't believe the ability to pay has increased over the last 12 months.

Re: have zurich house prices gone up in the last year?
 

I am not surprised though how many people have money in this country.

I see more and more adverts in the local newspaper from "families seeking minimum 5.5 room" properties, with "komfortables" budget... We are talking CHF2m plus on the silver coast and at these prices I don't think these people take out full mortgages because the family would need to have an annual income of around 400k to pass bank's affordability tests. So they must have more than CHF400k of equity available.

Re: have zurich house prices gone up in the last year?
 

I wouldn't agree with this - in a rich country like Switzerland, purely the ability to pay is often not a factor in financial decisions, even for property with a very tight market.

I think the value of properties which are better for home working have probably increased a little, and the value of those near big employers but in otherwise crappy locations have probably gone down a bit.

At least a couple of my younger employees have moved away from their parents earlier than planned because of home working (renting obviously). The affordability hasn't changed, it's still marginal, but the need has.

Re: have zurich house prices gone up in the last year?
 

Ability AND willingness.

I can well imagine there are people who could afford to buy what has become a more desirable property on the city outskirts, but couldn‘t afford to buy the city centre apartment they rent. 2 years ago they didn’t want to live in the suburbs and beyond. With extended home working a reality, these people may have reassessed what they want from a property and realised that they could have it further away from the city.

Re: have zurich house prices gone up in the last year?
 

There is no Swiss housing market. Each geminde is its own housing market. For example, there are probably >50 families in Thalwil who would love to own and can afford a 5.5 room apartment, and who have kids in the local school and who like their commute from Thalwil to Zurich. The supply of 5.5 room apartments is probably between 5-10 (that are actually advertised) and so in that particular geminde you will have a massive supply/demand imbalance. It's the same story in almost all of Zurich/Zug/Hofe region of Schwyz. Now if you want to own in Bern oberland or Thurgau it's a different story :-)

Re: have zurich house prices gone up in the last year?
 

As I have pointed out before, when I came here in 1989 there were 6.7 million people living in Switzerland. Today it's over 8.6 million.

That's an increase of over 1.9 million or 28% - and every one of them needs a roof over their heads...

Re: have zurich house prices gone up in the last year?
 

I can see a couple of reasons for increase:

- expectation of inflation
- expectation of increase in interest rate - makes sense only if one gets a fixed interest rate though
- need/wish for more space and inability to find appropriate rental property (my experience is that 5+ room rental places are very rare, especially if you have extra wishes)
- some people actually made substantial savings last year. There're people spending enormous money on going out...

There are people holding on cash for various reasons. I know people who consider that other financial investment options bring better return and refuse to buy RE. Another reason is if you want to be flexible with moves. Owning property is an extra binding factor for many people - it is a hassle to sell property for many.

Re: have zurich house prices gone up in the last year?
 

thanks for the very enlightening replies tbh. really interesting baout the population increase and also about how every single gemeinde is a really tight sellers market. also maybe prices are going up and up coz as the world goes down the plughole, switzerland is going to be the best place to live and watch it all from the sofa. is there a better country in the world? safe, stable, clean, totally democratic, really lovely, and tbh, theres nowhere in swizterland where youd feel unsafe. at worst, swiztelrnad is like 'a bit drab'. anyway sorry for rambling, this ode to swiztelrand has almost definitnely nothing to do with the practical real world economic reasons why house prices go up:D

btw, i just thought id ask here as well, and thanks for any recommendations ... i want to get the house i live in now appraised. ive been reading the ef threads about selling a house and theyre a mine of info, including 'get your house appraised by a pro' and def not by an agent :D

anyone got any recommendations?

btw ive been on homegate these few days and i love the houses advertised 'price on request'. i wonder what thats about. maybe starting a cheeky auction, not in the spirit of ripping buyers off as such, but coz these houses look AMAZING and for sure someone will be prepared to fight it out. the new one today was a 20 room (or 12 i cant remember tbh, my head cant comprehend more than 10 anyway) villa on the lake! according to old ef threads ive read, it will sell in a flash.

Re: have zurich house prices gone up in the last year?
 

“The price of a home has climbed 3.6% in the past year alone. Property prices have been rising faster than incomes for the last 10 years. Property around Zurich has increased 13% in three years.”

https://www.worldradio.ch/news/bites...despite-covid/

Re: have zurich house prices gone up in the last year?
 

I just had a chat with a friend in Zug who told me house/flat prices have gone through the roof in Zug and are absolutely ridiculous.
I would guess Zurich is no different.

Re: have zurich house prices gone up in the last year?
 

wowzers:eek:

Re: have zurich house prices gone up in the last year?
 

The short answer is „yes, but relatively speaking not as much as other parts of Europe as Switzerland was crazy expensive before and had less space to rise as for example Germany or the BeNeLux“.

Re: have zurich house prices gone up in the last year?
 

I was browsing through advertisements displayed on the windows of some estate agents in Lenzerheide and if places were just expensive a year ago, they are now ridiculous...

I guess Covid means that people with spare cash started to grab whatever weekend options they could find.

Re: have zurich house prices gone up in the last year?
 

That’s a different story from the general housing prices: secondary homes in the mountains exploded in value in times of home office...

Re: have zurich house prices gone up in the last year?
 

It's either that or you get divorced with kids running around 60m2 apartment in middle of the city and both do work from home ..so it may come out as better investment even so it doesn't seem like one now ...

Re: have zurich house prices gone up in the last year?
 

Accompanied a friend to a flat he wants to buy in Stafa on Friday. The real estate guy told me he recently marketed a house at CHF3.5m nr Horgen and had 150 enquiries. The successful buyers then dropped another million renovating it :eek:

Re: have zurich house prices gone up in the last year?
 

Along the lake 5 million is the new 2 million*.

And yes, even at these insane prices buyers should be prepared for the need to drop significant cash into updating whatever you buy.


*Except my house, which we recently had valued and had our suspicions confirmed that it has not appreciated in the 15+ years since we bought it. Lake view notwithstanding.

As always, the value is in the land. Any heap of junk that can be torn down and replaced with a luxury villa or rabbit warren of concrete boxes will be priced in the stratosphere. However if, like my house, you cannot re-build to what today's buyers want, the land price will likely not keep up with the general area rise.

Re: have zurich house prices gone up in the last year?
 

There are two "difficult" house for sale in our road. They are 1960s builds with need of renovation with oil heating and radiators. Land areas 600 and 1000sq meters.

We are 22ish km for Zurich in a small village about 45mins by public transport - bus and train in te Zurioberland.

Priced at CHF1.2million and 2million, with typical low-key posts on Home gate.

Both have received over 100 enquiries each and I see no reason for them not to sell at the asking price. Both need at least ½ million spending on them or demolishing for two or more dwellings on the plots...

Re: have zurich house prices gone up in the last year?
 

It sounds like my house. It's livable, but with old heating and dated decor, it maybe needs 300k to refurb to modern standards. I would be glad to collect 1m plus on it. I'm not convinced there are too many buyers out there for such a place, but let's see.

Re: have zurich house prices gone up in the last year?
 

How many rooms?

Re: have zurich house prices gone up in the last year?
 

Sounds crazy... So we either have a huge impending inflation (are salaries gone catch up?!) or an incredible bubble...

Both are really scaring me...

Re: have zurich house prices gone up in the last year?
 

Correct me if I am wrong here.

I also understand there is a law currently in the making protecting the "atmosphere" of the Swiss villages by preventing further densification of built up areas i.e. if you have a piece of land, with for example 400 m3 living space, you may not increase this space beyond that volume, potentially driving up future prices even more.

Re: have zurich house prices gone up in the last year?
 

A law for all Swiss villages seems very unlikely, planning is not usually handled federally except for some very high level rules.

Re: have zurich house prices gone up in the last year?
 

six.

modernized houses in the same area are being offered at 1.8m and a friend of mine in the same village told me a smaller house recently sold for 1.5m. so it might be worth doing the refurb and selling it.

Re: have zurich house prices gone up in the last year?
 

It always surprises me how people lean towards having a house instead of a flat. TBH, I enjoy living in apartment where I don't have to bother with the house maintenance and I can even close the doors for several months with no worries as my neighbors will keep an eye on it in general during my absence.

Re: have zurich house prices gone up in the last year?
 

Yeah it's really basic supply and demand for any country like this and Switzerland is well known for high demand for properties. House prices will only go up long-term in any place where demand is high and space is at a premium.

If I didn't mind losing my life savings on a deposit for a good property then I would love to do so and have my a place to call my own. However at the moment there's just no point while my rent is comparatively cheap for living in such a good central location.

Re: have zurich house prices gone up in the last year?
 

Fully agree. Technically I was able to take mortgage as soon as I came to Switzerland but I didn't want to seeing how cheap the rent is comparatively. Even now it's tempting to think about moving to Zug, Schwyz, Lucerne, Zurich due to the tax heaven and more "Swiss" life but the property prices are a cold shower. It looks hardly possible in my lifetime to recover on taxes what I would have to top up to a property in central-eastern Switzerland.

Re: have zurich house prices gone up in the last year?
 

That assumes salaries rise as the affordability rules don't change.

Re: have zurich house prices gone up in the last year?
 

Here‘s a reason for not living in a flat:
https://www.englishforum.ch/daily-li...-camel-me.html

If you buy a flat you have to budget for maintenance and you have no personal control over the cleaning, repairing and redecorating common areas.

Further to the noise described above from parties, you run the risk of balcony smokers.

Why do you think house neighbours won‘t keep an eye on a property for other neighbours? Ours feeds our cat while we are away...

Re: have zurich house prices gone up in the last year?
 

Yes, I have seen friends who had apartments with such maintenance costs (nebenkosten) in the region of CHF1000 per month - I have rented apartments for less than that.

Meanwhile, for a house, everything you spend is for your own house.

Totally agree with AbFabs assessment. I live in a terraced house, which still runs the risk of noisy neighbours (in my case not often a problem, and the walls are pretty thick), but in my opinion it totally rocks to have an own house over an apartment.

Re: have zurich house prices gone up in the last year?
 

You aren‘t losing your life savings, you are changing the asset class they are held in. I can understand why you wouldn‘t want to cash in a securities portfolio to buy a house, but you can pledge them rather than sell them. If the money is just sat in the bank, it‘s losing value anyway.

(Depending on what post-COVID normality is) I think what you will see is if people want to buy more generally they will be constrained by affordability in the prime locations as you say, but will look to live further away from those locations, pushing up the prices on the periphery.

That‘s about what we pay in Nebenkosten for our top floor Terrassenwohnung with garden (so effectively a semi-detached house on its side). BUT... nearly half of that is paying into the sinking fund and another chunk is for the heating and another for building insurance. Overall I‘d say 80% of what we pay, we would need to pay if we had a freestanding house.

Re: have zurich house prices gone up in the last year?
 

Most of my money is invested in stocks and I had no idea I could pledge them so I would need to inform myself there, thanks. Still, if I am honest with myself I don't really want that scale of financial commitment at the moment and would rather pay rent and stay flexible and save more money until I have really decided to commit to getting a place. I'm in no rush. :)

Re: have zurich house prices gone up in the last year?
 

I wouldn't purchase an apartment in Switzerland for this reason alone. I looked at many flats and was frankly horrified at the monthly maintenance costs, which in some cases was equal to renting an apartment.

Maybe I'm not use to Swiss prices yet, but the management of the flats certainly seem quite price insensitive and prone to spending money on ridiculous things that I would never dream to waste money on. (one example was a absurdly expensive earthquake insurance in an areas so geologically safe from earthquakes it was a proposed to be a nuclear waste storage site).

Re: have zurich house prices gone up in the last year?
 

It sounds like it's impossible to happen in Switzerland, but I guess that's what can happen when you rent a room/apartment from the building owner just subletting some part of his house.

Wow, it's also a good lesson to watch out for any sweet language, better assume everything exaggerated :eek:

Re: have zurich house prices gone up in the last year?
 

The "problem" is the change of Raumplanungsgesetz a few years ago.
https://www.are.admin.ch/are/de/home...umsetzung.html
It resulted in de-zoning of surplus building land in more remote places and general direction towards better usage of the existing and new land - i.e. in the existing urban/regional centres more flats per land area are allowed, and few/no new land for low density "urban sprawl" single home zones.
In the spring of 2020 I saw in Vaud sudden run on single family homes - any reasonably priced house in even relatively remote area that lingered for many months suddenly disappeared.

Re: have zurich house prices gone up in the last year?
 

Now I understand why so many houses (mostly shared houses) were built in Lausanne area recently, squeezed here and there, at any corner

Re: have zurich house prices gone up in the last year?
 

This was also mentioned as a driver for higher prices in the outer Zurich regions too.

Re: have zurich house prices gone up in the last year?
 

To put it all in perspective though, it's not just a Swiss phenomenon. Australia and New Zealand for example have experienced prices rises of 2% per month.

The main problem is (almost) free money. Ideally an increase in mortgage rates, even if small, would give a reality check to property values, but don't see that happening for the next 5 years or so.