The Swiss voice in the world since 1935
Top stories
Stay in touch with Switzerland

Office rents drop, apartment rents climb during pandemic

office for rent
"Office for rent" in Geneva (photo from 2010; don't call the number). Keystone / Salvatore Di Nolfi

Office rents in Switzerland went down by 3.3% in the second quarter of the year, according to an index published on Friday. Residential rents, however, have not been affected by Covid-19.

The biggest change in office space rates were in the most expensive areas: around Lake Geneva, rents went down by 4.7% in April, May and June, while in Zurich, the drop was 3.9%.

The statistics were published on Friday by the Fahrländer research and consultancy group, who write that “although the office space market is robust, uncertainty about how the pandemic and its impact are likely to develop is causing businesses to act cautiously.”

In the first quarter of the year, prices had already dropped for the first time in three years.

On the housing market, however, the situation looks quite different, Fahrländer reports. Here, prices were “unaffected” by the pandemic, and even rose.

Nationwide, the price of rents on newly built apartments went up by 1.4%, while the rent hike on existing flats was 3%. The situation looked similar across all regions of Switzerland.

As a result of the pandemic, which saw many businesses and retailers hit hard, a wide-ranging government aid package was announced which also plans rent relief for struggling commercial tenants. The bill would make such business owners liable for just 40% of the rent amount, with the rest absorbed by the landlord. The bill has been put out to consultation until August 4.

More

Popular Stories

Most Discussed

News

Porrentruy swimming pool: the town's mayor was not expecting such controversy

More

Porrentruy mayor comments on Swiss pool ban controversy

This content was published on The mayor of the Swiss town of Porrentruy, which has been in the headlines in neighbouring France after restricting access to a pool to locals after a spate of anti-social behaviour, says he has received much support in recent days.

Read more: Porrentruy mayor comments on Swiss pool ban controversy
Trained on the “Alps” supercomputer at the Swiss National Supercomputing Centre (CSCS) in Lugano, the new LLM marks a milestone in open-source AI and multilingual excellence, according to its developers.

More

Swiss universities to release multilingual AI programme

This content was published on This summer researchers at Swiss universities will make available a large language model (LLM), an AI programme trained on vast amounts of data, developed on public infrastructure.

Read more: Swiss universities to release multilingual AI programme
Zurich cantonal police introduce fixed online police stations

More

Zurich introduces online police station

This content was published on After a one-year test phase, Zurich's cantonal police are introducing an online police station. Demand is high and the response from the public has been positive.

Read more: Zurich introduces online police station
St. Moritz registers the summer as a brand

More

St Moritz registers ‘summer’ as trademark

This content was published on The chic resort of St Moritz in southeastern Switzerland has registered "summer" as a trademark under the name "St Summer". The resort in canton Graubünden is launching a campaign to strengthen its summer business.

Read more: St Moritz registers ‘summer’ as trademark
House prices rose sharply in June

More

Swiss house prices rose sharply in June

This content was published on The prices of homes and apartments in Switzerland rose again in June. In the Lake Geneva region, prices of detached houses rose sharply. Meanwhile, in Zurich and its surrounding region the opposite trend was observed.

Read more: Swiss house prices rose sharply in June
Heavy crowds expected at Swiss airports

More

Crowded airports expected in Switzerland this summer

This content was published on Switzerland's main airports are preparing for a busy summer holiday period. A number of changes have been introduced to improve passenger flows that are expected to be well above average in July and August.

Read more: Crowded airports expected in Switzerland this summer

In compliance with the JTI standards

More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative

You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!

If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR