Property prices expected to rise in 2011
Bank UBS says it expects Swiss real estate prices to go up again this year, continuing a 13-year boom.
Since 1998, prices for condominiums have increased by 56 per cent, and by 37 per cent for single-family houses, the research division of the Swiss bank said on Wednesday.
Property in the Lake Geneva area has increased more than six-fold over the past 24 years, and double in the Bern region. The same heady growth also applies to the areas around Lake Zurich and Lake Zug, as well as certain high-end tourist regions on the south side of the Alps.
Thanks to disposable income also rising sharply over the past ten years “the affordability of single-family houses has remained fairly constant”, the bank said.
It added that sinking interest rates have also contributed to the strong demand.
UBS warned however that the property “price increases are not sustainable” and corrections could “trigger unpredictable domino effects across multiple regions”.
The research unit added that the Swiss commercial real estate market had weathered the global economic crisis well.
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