The majority of people in Switzerland live in rented accommodation. This is quite unique compared with other European countries. Its implications affect our everyday lives, the environment, politics, and – it goes without saying – the rights of tenants. But not always in the way we would expect.
Anyone who returns to live in Switzerland or moves to the country for the first time will most probably start renting accommodation in an apartment building. This is because Switzerland is a country of tenants. A clear majority of the resident population, 58 per cent, rent their homes. Such a high percentage is unusual.
Homeowners account for the majority everywhere else in Europe (Germany has the thinnest majority, at just over 50 per cent). The proportion of homeowners in Europe is routinely around two thirds or more. This certainly makes Switzerland a special case. But although our country normally revels in exceptionalism, such a high proportion of tenants is not necessarily something of which it is proud.
“If Switzerland’s entire eight-and-a-half-million population lived in detached houses, we would have no countryside left.”
Architect and local Green politician from Biel
On the contrary, the media normally like to moan that so few live in their own home. “The dream of home ownership is an illusion for most people in Switzerland” was the headline of a recent article about rising house prices in the free daily newspaper “20 Minuten”. And the dream is not simply to own a flat, but “a house with a garden”.
But if the majority of Swiss live in rented accommodation, mostly apartments, is this really a problem? And how does it affect our everyday lives, the economy, politics, and the environment? Based on studies and what the experts and stakeholders say, there are various aspects to consider. These are not always what we would expect. In this article, we consider nine hypotheses.
According to architect and local Green politician from Biel, Benedikt Loderer, a high proportion of tenants is not a bad thing at all. “Rental developments tend to be high density. This counteracts urban expansion,” he says. Loderer is a fierce critic of the extensive detached-housing developments often seen in Switzerland’s Central Plateau region. “If Switzerland’s entire eight-and-a-half-million population lived in detached houses, we would have no countryside left.” The dream of owning bricks and mortar on a patch of green land is an illusion anyway, he adds. “We know that most homeowners are not really homeowners at all. Their houses effectively belong to the banks issuing the mortgages.”
The landlord alone decides how a tenant’s apartment is heated and how well it is insulated. And the problem with politicians asking tenants to turn down their radiators because of the Ukraine war and higher energy prices is that heating consumption in older apartment buildings is often not measured or calculated individually. Instead, heating costs are invoiced equally among all the tenants. If you are frugal with your heating, you end up picking up the tab for your wasteful neighbours.
Whether a higher home ownership rate would simplify Switzerland’s switch from nuclear and fossil fuels is another matter altogether. And ultimately one for referendums to decide. Homeowners tend to be against tougher rules, while tenants are more in favour.
You would think that people in rich countries are more likely to afford home ownership. But precisely the opposite seems to be the case. Less-well-off countries have a higher proportion of homeowners. The statistics bear this out. In Albania and Romania, the home ownership rate is the highest in Europe at over 96 per cent. It is also very high in Portugal, Spain and Greece, at around three quarters. What do we learn from this? That people’s own four walls are more important for financial security in countries with shakier economies.
We see a similar pattern in Switzerland, where the highest home ownership rates are 58 and 54 per cent respectively in the rural cantons of Appenzell-Innerrhoden and Valais. In the economically strong cantons of Basel-Stadt and Geneva, homeowners only account for 15 and 18 per cent of the population respectively. Most people rent instead, as is generally the case in Switzerland’s major cities and in prosperous cantons such as Zurich and Zug.
Political geographer Michael Hermann has a surprising explanation for why the proportion of tenants in prosperous Switzerland is so high. “Essentially, people believe that renting is a concept that works,” he says, pointing out that collaborative and cooperative business models generally have a stronger tradition in Switzerland than in other countries. Take cooperative retail chains Migros and Coop, for example. Or the ubiquitous shared laundry room in your archetypal Swiss apartment building.
It is also cheaper to rent than buy – or at least it has become so recently, according to economists at bank Credit Suisse in a study published a short time ago. “Purchasers of an owner-occupied home have to pay more than for a comparable rental apartment,” they wrote. But only now is this the case again, because mortgage rates have rebounded. Previously, it was the other way round during the period of low interest rates that began in 2008. This reversal points to a certain degree of normality returning.
However, such studies tell us little about individual situations. Furthermore, the cost of housing – like the cost of living – tends to be very high in Switzerland compared to other countries. The price of renting also puts a huge strain on household budgets, particularly among the low-income demographic.
There is a high level of residential mobility in Switzerland. In statistical terms, one in ten people move home every year. It appears that it is less about changing location than a change in actual accommodation. In 2020, the average relocation distance in Switzerland was only 12.5 kilometres. However, almost three quarters of all moves involved upsizing into bigger or downsizing into smaller accommodation.
Obviously, many people resize according to their personal circumstances. It is no surprise that people who live in apartment buildings move twice as often as those who live in detached houses.
Being a tenant can therefore be quite a varied experience. By the time you reach middle age, you can easily have lived in a dozen or more apartments. But flexible living has its drawbacks. In most cities, apartment hunting is a sport in itself. Good, affordable flats – a very rare thing – usually change hands on the quiet. Unless you have a secure income or good contacts, expect to live in the outlying suburbs or in unattractive spots such as noisy through roads.
You would think that tenants are on to a winner in Swiss referendums, given that they make up the majority of the electorate. Not necessarily! On 9 February 2020, an emphatic 57 per cent of Swiss voters rejected the “More affordable homes” popular initiative put forward by the Swiss Tenants’ Association (MV), which wanted no less than ten per cent of new builds to be used for “affordable” social and cooperative housing.
This is not the first time that the association has stumbled at the polls. In fact, the tenants' association has failed with all its popular initiatives to date – at least at national level. Is Switzerland a country of tenants who dream of home ownership and vote accordingly? Yes, if you ask the Swiss Homeowners’ Association (HEV), which cited a survey of people searching for accommodation. The results of the questionnaire revealed that people in middle age are particularly interested in owning property “because they finally want somewhere to settle”. The MV general secretary, Green National Councillor Natalie Imboden, actually concedes the same point: “Tenants dream of buying because they no longer want to live with the risk of being kicked out of their accommodation one day.”
On the other hand, it would be wrong to imagine that the MV has its work cut out compared to the HEV, given that the latter has also failed with all of its popular initiatives. Nevertheless, both organisations still carry a lot of referendum clout and are very well placed to torpedo any proposals that they dislike. Basically, they are good at blocking legislation but not so good at pushing through their own ideas. It is a permanent tug of war between the two camps.
Tenancy agreements in Switzerland tend to drill down to the minutest detail – such as stipulating the apartment heating temperature (20 degrees) or how much money tenants have to pay for repairs themselves (up to 150 Swiss francs). And the principle of cost-covering rent applies, i.e. rising costs can be the only justification for rent increases. But the market also has a big role to play beyond the landlord-tenant relationship, especially when it comes to new lets.
First of all, it is fair to say that the protections in place for tenants are quite good. Landlords can still terminate tenancy agreements if they wish, but legal safeguards mean that affected tenants usually have a good chance of having their stay extended – sometimes for several years. However, landlords letting new properties have considerable power. This creates a two-track system, whereby rents are much higher on the market than they are for existing leases. If you live in the same apartment for a long time, you pay less than someone would if they were starting to rent that property for the first time.
Landlord and tenant rights in Switzerland represent a good compromise, according to the economically liberal think tank Avenir Suisse: “Regulation of the Swiss rental housing market is quite modest, meaning that good-quality accommodation is always available to rent.” This is the main reason why Switzerland has a high proportion of tenants, it says, adding that rental properties in other countries are squeezed out of the market by excessive regulation.
Natalie Imboden of the MV disagrees: “The rental market isn’t working in urban areas, where most people live.” Tenants need more protection from landlords cashing in without doing the actual work of a landlord. Not so, says the HEV managing director and SVP Cantonal Councillor for Basel-Landschaft, Markus Meier. “Our members are unable to build enough housing in urban areas, which is a bad situation for them too.” The protections that the MV wants are excessive and will only squeeze the rental market further, in his view.
There is a huge amount of money at stake in the landlord-tenant dynamic. According to an MV-commissioned study, tenants have paid 78 billion francs too much in rent over the past 15 years. By law, the cost of renting in Switzerland is linked to mortgage rates. Interest has fallen since 2008, but rents have continued to rise. This study is nothing but a red herring, the HEV retorts, because it fails to take increased running costs and investment into account. The MV begs to differ.
What is undeniable is that many tenants opt out of asking for a lower rent, despite the law working in their favour. Why? According to the MV, many are afraid of rocking the boat and clashing with their landlord. But Markus Meier of the homeowners' association believes that the tenantlandlord relationship is not as bad as the tenants' association makes out. He cites a federal government survey, which says that 63 per cent of the population are “fairly happy” or “very happy” with current tenancy law.
With mortgage rates rising again, the ball is now in the court of landlords. Property owners will soon be able to increase rents on the basis of these higher rates. Will they also exercise restraint to avoid upsetting tenants?
The go-to literary reference work for a better understanding of the Helvetic soul also addresses life as a tenant. “Der Waschküchenschlüssel (oder was, wenn Gott Schweizer wäre)” is the work of author Hugo Loetscher and was published in 1988. Available in German.
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Comments :
Ich mag die Erklärung, aber es fehlen einige Teile. Es wird kein Problem sein, während den Jahren, in denen man arbeitet, Miete zu zahlen. Aber ich denke, es wird ein Problem im Alter geben.
Es ist bedauerlich, dass in dem Artikel ein Aspekt völlig ausser Acht gelassen wird: Die Vermögenden investieren in Bauten zur Vermietung, da dies nach wie vor eine "sichere Bank" ist. Die Mieter können häufig nicht so viel zur Seite legen, dass sie Eigentümer von Wohnraum werden können. Die Schweiz ist daher auch deshalb (wie Deutschland) ein Land der Vermieter, was aber nicht ein Kennzeichen von Wohlstand für alle, sondern eher ein Kennzeichen von Wohlstand von wenigen ist.
Cet article est intéressant , il ne précise pas une chose à mes yeux importante qui peut décourager l’accession à la propriété, c’est l’imposition d’un revenu locatif fictif.
Cela touche notamment les personnes qui ont remboursé leurs crédits comme les personnes âgées et qui ont peu de revenus et peuvent être conduit à revendre leur bien . De même si vous mettez à disposition un bien à titre gratuit à un enfant, dès lors vous devrez payer un impôt sur un revenu fictif.
À l’inverse pour un locataire qui s’engage dans un bail à long terme et qu’il doit déménager pour des raisons professionnelles ou familiales il sera tenu à payer le loyer jusqu’à son échéance.
Enfin vous le soulignez le loyer fluctue en fonction de l’évolution des taux d’intérêt, ce qui est totalement absurde . Que le loyer fluctue en fonction de l’inflation est la règle dans tous les autres pays .
Voilà quelques absurdités du régime suisse qui vont à l’encontre des intérêts tant des locataires que des propriétaires et malheureusement ce n’est pas près de changer compte tenu de la lourdeur des réformes en Suisse et des des lobbys comme les banques, les associations tant des locataires que des propriétaires.
La Suisse pourrait copier le système de Singapore par lequel une personne peut emprunter de l'Etat une somme pour acheter un appartement garanti sur le revenu de sa sécurité social quand il prendra sa retraite.
L’idée serait bonne si les retraites étaient régulièrement augmentées et adaptées au coût de la vie. On ne prête qu’aux riches et aux gens en bonne santé.
Die Schweiz ist sehr dicht besiedelt, deshalb sind die Bodenpreise auch enorm hoch. Deshalb macht das Wohnen in grosser Dichte Sinn. Vergleiche mit anderen Ländern sind schwierig. Sich mit über einer Million CHF zu verschulden, um ein eigenes Heim zu haben, können oder wollen auch sehr viele Leute nicht. Mieten ist eine gute Option in der Schweiz.
Further, I understand that everyone’s dream is to own a detached house with a garden, but I don’t believe that in a healthy ownership based market that’s the only property type people would buy. Firstly, for some reason I don’t understand, apartments in Switzerland are often not much cheaper than a detached or semi-detached house. And on top of that, your freedom is severely restricted by the incredibly invasive house rules in Switzerland (so you say I can‘t flush my toilet at night? Really?!). Lastly, often in an apartment building you have some investor who owns 60% of the units and can basically decide everything. As a single-unit owner you just have to follow every decision and pay your share towards something you don’t agree to. One hears lots of nightmare stories about apartment ownership in Switzerland. I am not surprised that owning apartments is not very desirable.
I live in Singapore and just bought an apartment. Going through the buying process I must say I am very impressed at how well thought-through the legal framework is. You can tell that every rule is there to create market transparency, encourage ownership and actively discourage „hamstering“ properties for investment purposes. A situation where one person owns 60% of a building’s units is unlikely to happen because the financial discouragement (ex. additional buyers stamp duties) would make it a bad financial decision. Switzerland could learn a thing or two.
Das war der Grund für mich, ins Ausland zu gehen. Ich habe in Kanada und Mexiko meinen Traum erfüllt und hatte mein eigenes Haus mit Pool gekauft. Ich möchte nie wieder ein Mieter sein, die Freiheit in seinem Haus zu wohnen, ist wunderbar.
Bravo für uns Auswanderer ! Wir besitzen fast alle ein wunderschönes Einfamilienhaus mit Umschwung und wären zurück in Schweuz total unglücklich !
Could this picture (percentage of ‘homes’ rented vs. owned) be improved, if rents would include an option to own? Would likely be more affordable and would not require too many apartment modifications (metering of utilities, etc). Would be a great choice for middle age and retired folks.
Richtig, DAS wär der Weg der Logik schlechthin.
In einem gerechten Land dürfte es keine Mieter geben, denn dies ist sehr schlecht, da diese den Spekulanten ausgeliefert sind. Die Staatsregierungen müssten eine sehr strenge Kontrolle/Mietenüberwachung über diese haben. Unser grösstes Problem in der Schweiz (und in der Welt) sind die geld- und machthungrigen Unmenschen!
In Mehr-Familien-Häusern, die mehreren Eigentümern gehören, ist eine Instandhaltung oft ein Ding der Unmöglichkeit. Keiner möchte Geld für die Gemeinschaftsräume oder bessere energetische Werte ausgeben. Da lobe ich mir doch den Vermieter, der sein Gebäude saniert und natürlich dafür einen Modernisierungsaufschlag auf die Miete verlangt.
Kein Wunder haben so viele Schweizer Schwierigkeiten im AHV-Alter, wenn sie einen Grossteil ihrer Rente an Vermieter bezahlen müssen. In den USA haben die "Retired" ihr Haus abbezahlt und geniessen das Leben.
Ich sehe die vielen Rentner, welche in der Schweiz nur mit Mühe leben können, nicht. Wer weiss, wo Sie solche ausmachen können. Im Gegenteil: Die Rentner in der Schweiz sind in aller Regel sehr gut gestellt, Dank dem 3-Säulen-System.
Umgekehrt, in den USA, kann wohl kaum jemand von der Social Security leben und allzu viele haben keine zusátzliche Pension wie 401K etc.
In Miete zu leben, vereinfacht auch das Leben. Ich bezahle soviel und alles wird für mich gemacht. Eigentum zwingt zu mehr denken, mehr Bewegung und vor allem mehr Selbstbewusstsein, mehr Verantwortung und das hält einer wacher, kritischer. Man kann im Leben nur ein gutes Arbeitstier sein...
Mich würde es interessieren, warum der Artikel kein Gedanke an die psychologische Lage der Schweizer Mieter Masse verschwendet. Das wäre ja wohl relevant. Wie finden es die Mieter mit unüblichen Jobs zum Beispiel, wenn sie spät in der Nacht nach hause kommen und nich mal duschen dürfen? Erst nachdem ich in die USA auszug, durfte ich endlich echte Freiheit kennen lernen, und ein grosser Teil davon hat mit Hauseigentum zu tun. Ich habe nun mein zweites Haus in den US gekauft, habe gut investiert, und meine zwei Kinder werden immens davon profitieren können. Im Gegenteil bezahlen meine Eltern ein Leben lang in der Schweiz Miete, und davon ist nichts übrig für uns. Die Steuerlage für Hausbesitzende ist völlig absurd in der Schweiz, und hält viele Leute vom Investieren ab. Für mich persönlich ist ein Zurückkommen in die Schweiz praktisch unmöglich, gerade weil das Haus Besitzen so ausserhalb der Mittelklasse liegt.
Man sagt bekanntlich immer: Das Gegenteil ist wahr, was wir in den Medien an Infos kriegen. Auch hier, muss gesagt werden, dass die Schweizer viel zu spät Familien gründen und Heiraten, deshalb haben wir viel zu wenig eigene Kinder. Dies wird aber bewusst von der Regierung so gesteuert und auch jedem jungen Mensch eingetrichtert. Das sind jetzt die Folgen der Mietkasernen, die Verstädterungen, niemand will mehr einfache Arbeiten machen weil wir dafür Fachleute aus dem Ausland importieren können. Alles wird teurer und alle haben keine Zeit mehr. Mann und Frau arbeiten und zahlen doppelt Steuern und ein Familienleben will man nicht mehr, es wurde simpel gesagt abgeschafft. Die Kirchen sind leer geworden, weil man sich durch diese Lebensweise immer mehr von Gott wegdreht und nicht mehr an Himmel und Hölle glaubt.
In California spricht man von Generationen-Reichtum. Was in einem Haus investiert ist, kann der nächsten Generation Hilfe sein. Das Geld, das fürs Mieten fliesst, ist verloren. Hier wird es meistens erwähnt mit den Schwarzen, die weniger Möglichkeit haben ein Haus zu erwerben und dadurch ist der Generationen-Reichtum verpönt. Nur ein Gedanke.
Arme, reiche Schweizer. Immer mit einem Fuss auf der Strasse, sollte das Mietverhältnis gekündigt werden oder der Mietzins einmal mehr angehoben werden. Eine ständiger Druck, ja nicht gegen die Vermieterin aufzumucken, geschweige denn eine Mietzinssenkung zu verlangen. Auf das Erreichte in diesem Kapitel kann man wirklich nicht stolz sein. Und dann noch die Gruselgeschichte der gemeinsamen Waschmaschine! Brrrrr! – Man darf annehmen, dass der Architekt Loderer nicht in einer 90m2-Mietwohnung zu Hause ist. Aber darüber schweigt der Artikel.
Great article! I've often wondered why there are so many renters in Switzerland. The observation that a high proportion of renters is an indication of wealth (rather than the opposite) is particularly interesting. I previously lived in the U.S. and U.K., where state pensions are small and home ownership is important for a comfortable retirement.
High renting population is an idea to keep the people at a certain level of abnormality. Owning your house does give the owner a sense of financial rest and Swiss government and banks has made it so impossible for labourars to be able to afford their own homes. It is so wrong. I am in Ireland and within few years, I am now a home owner,which I wouldn't have been given the opportunity in Swiss.
“If Switzerland’s entire eight-and-a-half-million population lived in detached houses, we would have no countryside left”: At 4 million households and 500 m2 per property we would have around 5'000 km2 of properties, which makes 15% of Switzerland surface. Sur you need to consider additional infrastructure as roads, etc. That's a lot, but doable considering today surface for residential buildings of around 4'000 km2
Thank you for your thoughts. It is to be taken into account that a quarter of Switzerland is not habitable (mountains, lakes, glaciers); one third of the country is furthermore forested, and a little more than one third is agricultural land. Today, the share of settlement area including infrastructures and industry is 8 per cent (3,271 km2). The overview:
2'044 km2 – Settlement area (Siedlungsfläche)
983 km2 – Roads, traffic areas (Strassen, Verkehrsflächen)
256 km2 – Industry (Industrie)
10'361 km2 – Mountains, lakes, glaciers (Berge, Seen, Gletscher)
13'134 km2 – Forest (Wald)
9'492 km2 – Fields and pastures (Äcker und Weiden)
5'033 km2 – Alpine pastures (Alpweiden)
41'291 km2 – Total area of Switzerland
(Source: Area statistics of the Federal Statistical Office / Arealstatistik BFS)
DE: Es gilt zu berücksichtigen, dass ein Viertel der Schweiz nicht bewohnbar ist (Berge, Seen, Gletscher); ein Drittel des Landes ist zudem bewaldet, etwas mehr als ein Drittel sind Agrarflächen. Heute liegt der Anteil der Siedlungsfläche einschliesslich der Infrastrukturen und Industrie bei 8 Prozent (3'271 km2).
So you prove it can be done. Take 2000 km2 from forests and pastures and you see - problem solved. The forests are being cut down anyway. More now when the wood price is high and continually over the last decades. If you don't believe it, take a drone and have a look at some forests. Trees on the edges, in the middle empty. Or look at the pictures from 20 years ago. Deforestation made in Switzerland.
The real issue is keeping the prices of the houses high by greatly reducing the supply. This way two thirds of those living in the wealthy Switzerland can't afford a house and most of remaining third can't pay the credit, thus not really owning the house.
To me the whole thing smells like nicely packed corruption...
Switzerland is simply overpopulated. House ownership is great and very relatively inexpensive in Switzerland thanks to indefinite mortgages, but not if the neighbors' houses are just a few meters away and you can hear every conversation just as easily as if everyone lived in an apartment. Yet there is no room for more than a small fraction of the population to live on a few thousand sqm of land, and those doing so will typically end up with longer commutes. When I lived in Switzerland, we had a lovely large old house on 16,000sqm outside a tiny village and I drove 50km to work in each direction because there was no public transport. My North American colleagues found this perfectly normal, but my Swiss colleagues thought I was nuts...
Until the world population starts decreasing (and there is no sign of that happening any time soon), apartment life will dominate.
Hola, queridos amigos: mi experiencia después de haber residido 33 años principalmente en el cantón Basilea Campaña, es que el precio para la adquisición de por ejemplo un departamentito me resultó inalcanzable... de allí que vivía alquilando....
DE: Hallo, liebe Freunde: nachdem ich 33 Jahre lang hauptsächlich im Kanton Basel-Land gelebt habe, habe ich die Erfahrung gemacht, dass der Preis für den Kauf einer kleinen Wohnung für mich unerschwinglich war... daher habe ich zur Miete gewohnt .....