Fighting the housing shortage – Pilot project in rental development begins: Anyone who moves into a smaller flat will be rewarded here

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While some tenants can no longer find a room to live in a Swiss city, some have more than one room in their apartment. A dilemma that is becoming increasingly problematic. As long as the living space consumption of the elderly population is high, this situation increases the housing shortage of families.

The pilot project at the Accu development site in Zurich-Oerlikon tries to solve this dilemma. The settlement consists of 148 flats and belongs to Credit Suisse. The major bank, which has been taken over by UBS, wants to encourage people to switch homes on the site over the next twelve months. Plans are available only to Blick.

A financial incentive

“For many tenants, their existing apartments are too small or too large due to changing needs,” says bank spokesman Andreas Kern. If these tenants don’t need all the rooms anymore, why don’t they move into smaller apartments? The problem: high rental rates.

For years, rent prices have only moved in one direction: up! This means that many tenants, especially older people, choose to stay in their old apartments. “Moving to a smaller apartment, especially for long-term renters, is often not financially worthwhile,” says Kern.

High living space per person

Figures from real estate consultancy company Wüest Partner also confirm this situation. “An assessment based on life stages shows that from the age of 55 onwards, the occupancy density of tenant households decreases significantly,” says Robert Weinert (44), real estate expert at Wüest Partner.

The reason is clear: At this point, children leave their parents’ home and move into their own homes. Suddenly several bedrooms in the parents’ house become vacant. Living space that others can use immediately.

Smaller apartment costs more

And living situation generally does not change with age: retirees aged 75 and over have the highest living space consumption per capita. The rate of single-person households is high in this age group. However, single seniors often stay in their old apartments where they previously lived with three, four or five other people.

Because the 4½-room apartment they have lived in for years is cheaper than all the 2½-room apartments advertised in the same area. “There are almost no living space offerings on the market right now with similar prices,” says Weinert. This means moving to a smaller apartment will lead to higher housing costs.

New flat for the price of old flat

The project started in mid-August 2023 on the Accu project. The aim: to make it as easy as possible for residents to change apartments within the same property. They are attracted by the fact that they don’t have to worry about higher rents. The rent of the new apartment is calculated according to the rent of the old apartment. In particular, the new rent is calculated based on the rent per square meter of the old flat.

Currently, if the tenant in a 4½-room, 110 square meter apartment pays a net rent of 1,800 francs per month, this means 16.40 francs per square meter. If the tenant now moves into an 80 square meter flat with 2½ rooms, his rent will now be 1,312 francs per month, or 80 times 16.40 francs.

You’ll save on rent if you switch

Development of Accu was completed in 2006, so it is 17 years old. According to CS, the average price per square meter of a 2½-room apartment in the project is currently 23.80 francs. The average rent for an 80 square meter apartment will be 1,900 francs. Anyone who switches will save almost 600 francs a month!

Kern says, “With the project, we want to contribute to the use of flats as need-oriented as possible.”

Initial feedback on the pilot project is very positive. Those who wanted to change their flats reported this within the first two weeks. If the pilot project is successful, the bank wants to expand the offer to other properties.

Source :Blick