Study examines price factors in housing costs: This is why house prices increased by 80 percent

class=”sc-29f61514-0 icZBHN”>

We’ve been feeling it in our wallets for a long time, now it’s black and white: The cost of housing is steadily rising and will soon become a luxury item for some. In the two decades since the turn of the millennium, prices of detached houses and apartments have almost doubled and asking rents have increased by a third.

Specifically, here’s what it looks like for the years 2000 to 2021:

• Condominium price increase: 94 percent
• Price increase in detached houses: 80 percent
• Rent increase: 30 percent

For comparison: Over the same period, nominal wages increased by 24 percent and the cost of living increased by 8 percent. Donato Scognamiglio (53), Chairman of the Board of Directors of the real estate service provider Iazi, together with other authors and institutes, examined the price drivers of housing costs in a study commissioned by the Federal Housing Office.

scarce construction space

His conclusion on the most important causes of rising housing costs: “People, money and scarcity.” These factors alone explain more than two-thirds of the increase in costs – whether related to ownership or renting.

keyword users: Immigration to Switzerland remains high. “This shows how attractive Switzerland still is,” says Scognamiglio, who himself moved from Bern to Zurich in 1994. “Because there were better job opportunities in Limmat.” Additionally, due to personnel shortages in many sectors, we need additional workers from abroad. All of these people need to live somewhere: “Tremendous demand meets tight supply,” says the real estate expert.

Keyword scarcity: Settled land is a scarce resource in Switzerland. The total residential area is only eight percent. This is where people live, work, drive and relax in parks and green spaces. An area in Switzerland that cannot be expanded arbitrarily due to topography. Building land is expensive and increases housing costs.

building for eternity

keyword money: Not only housing costs but also incomes have increased slightly in the last twenty years. Switzerland is a rich country and the demands on apartment and house construction standards are accordingly high. We can also afford to use more and more living space per person. There’s also a passion for perfection: “In Switzerland, people generally build to last a long time,” says Scognamiglio. “In Switzerland, houses often collapse after 50 years, even though the quality of the construction lasts 100 years.”

The focus of the study was the impact of spatial planning on housing costs. This is one of the most important public tools for using rare construction land in Switzerland as efficiently as possible. Surprising finding: Spatial planning also contributes between 6 and 8 percent to the increase in housing costs in Switzerland.

Housing is becoming more expensive

“This is the price we must pay to preserve a pristine environment also for future generations,” explains Scognamiglio. When used wisely, spatial planning can also have a cost-cutting effect, for example by allowing the construction of additional buildings in already densely populated areas or by linking the zoning of construction land to the start of construction activity as quickly as possible.

“Faster, higher, denser, more digital, cheaper, more innovative, more sustainable” – this is the formula by which the real estate expert hopes to reduce housing costs.

But even spatial planning cannot work miracles. Therefore, it is clear that there is no end in sight to rising housing costs: “Rents will continue to rise, construction land will not become cheaper, construction costs and technical requirements will continue to rise,” Scognamiglio’s not-so-optimistic conclusion.

Source :Blick