New apostles gild church roofs with investment property

In terms of membership, the New Apostolic Church (NAC) in Switzerland is a small religious community. But NAK is huge when it comes to real estate. While many parishes lose large sums of money with their real estate, investment properties provide an unexpected return to new apostles.

This is due to the professional management of the real estate portfolio, which reported over CHF 270 million in last year’s annual report. Overall, the Free Church has rented or sold several dozen faith houses to other religious communities, communities, and investors.

Houses on the church roof

In this way, he managed to put his financial situation on a healthy basis in the long run. Property required for pastoral care generates a good annual expenditure of five million francs, while investment properties pour almost the same amount into the vault.

The demolition of a church can be particularly lucrative for the development of the area. “In some cases, a new building with a church and apartments makes sense,” says NAK media spokesman Andreas Grossglauser. For the hybrid building in Zurich Albisrieden, NAK paid CHF 23 million together with the pension fund of the Zürcher Kantonalbank. There is also a church on the ground floor. But on the “church roof” there are 36 rental apartments spread over several floors.

management is valuable

However, when it comes to the holy buildings of the Catholic and Reformed Churches, a renovation building that includes apartments is often not possible. Many churches are not in residential areas and are often listed.

But there is still room for improvement: as research by Ansgar Gmur (69) shows, most parishioners currently do not manage their estates at all or through parish councils. “Parties should consolidate their real estate and be managed by professionals,” he says. After all, congregations have many other properties that they can develop in addition to the holy buildings.