No end in sight: Housing costs will continue to rise in 2024

class = “sc-cffd1e67-0 iQNQmc”>

Living in Switzerland is becoming increasingly expensive. This is shown by analysis of ads in the Swiss Real Estate Offer Index published on Tuesday, collected by ImmoScout24 in collaboration with real estate consultancy IAZI. Apartment offers for rent developed differently depending on the region in January. However, the state average showed a slight overall increase in prices.

There are clear regional differences in rental price developments. While asking rents fell only in the Zurich region (-1.1 percent), they increased significantly in central Switzerland (+1.4 percent) and northwestern Switzerland (+1.2 percent). In other regions, the increases were moderate. The increase was +1.0 percent in Ticino, +0.6 percent in the Lake Geneva region, +0.4 percent in Mittelland and +0.3 percent in eastern Switzerland.

Things are getting expensive again in Zurich

It is said that the requested rents will continue to increase this year. This is due to continued strong immigration to Switzerland. Rental housing construction is lagging behind, leading to a housing shortage.

Despite the current decline, this also applies to the Zurich region. However, existing tenants will need to expect higher costs due to the second rent reference rate increase of 0.25 per cent at the beginning of December. This gives landlords the right to increase rents by up to three percent as of April 1, 2024.

Price increase in detached houses

However, owning a home also costs more. Everyone who wanted to buy a detached house faced an average of 0.9 percent higher asking prices in January. In contrast, condominium prices remained almost flat compared to the end of the year (+0.1 percent).

There have been increases in both detached houses (+0.9 percent) and apartments (+3.4 percent) in the last twelve months. It is noteworthy that announced house prices remained stable throughout 2023 and showed a significant increase in January 2024.

Apartment flats, on the other hand, had already been subject to a continuous increase last year. Sellers are confident that this trend will continue in 2024. Mortgage interest costs, which have fallen again in recent weeks, will further support demand for property purchases.

Source :Blick