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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 :-)

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...

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.

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.

This , and if indeed it means people moving out of cities and rediscovery the joys of rural or at least suburban living , that should be supported by a drop in prices in inner cities which is not something I am aware of

Or a drop in rents for that matter . Remember rents and purchase values correlate

Only if the return is to stay the same. In today's environment the price can increase if rent is flat because buyers keep accepting lower returns (including the imputed return one's hypothetical rent represents).

This is pretty much what's happening.

The (grand)parent generation fuels this by not moving to a smaller dwelling once the children have flown off. Probably the large majority of the grandparents who still live "independently" (i.e. outside of care homes etc) live in what used to be the family home. What may have equaled 20-30sqm per person back then is 60sqm or even 120 today, so the children need a new build when they start their own family rather than the existing homes being handed down to the next generation. I bet Kittster's neighbors reflect this pattern completely, too. My Mom lives alone in what used to be a 7-people dwelling, it's her home.

Not only the prices have increased....but there aren't that many houses on sale to speak of!! In ZH city, that is. If you're willing to commute things appear to be a tad better.