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What are your experiences with housing shortages and rising property prices?

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I write about demographic developments, societal trends and debates in Switzerland. I joined SWI swissinfo.ch after 15 years at a local newspaper in Zurich.

In Switzerland, it’s becoming increasingly hard for people to afford to buy a house or flat, and with demand constantly outstripping supply, rents are climbing as well. In the cities, gentrification is well under way, and politicians are still struggling to find a solution.

There is no real sign of things getting better. While the Swiss economy attracts more workers from the EU, construction just isn’t keeping up with the number of new arrivals. The country is slipping deeper into a housing crisis.

Does any of this sound familiar? Is it the same where you live — are you seeing a shortage of homes or soaring prices, whether it is for renting or buying property? We’d love to hear about your experiences.

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Jorg Hiker
Jorg Hiker

The property crisis is threatening future of Switzerland. Young families delay having children and cannot afford a second child. This turns into a demographic crisis for decades to come. Skilled workforce emigrates or rejects the idea of working in Swiss cities. This turns into an economic crisis. People are stuck living in villages where they have no prospects, or in energy-inefficient houses, because there is no other option. So this turns into social services crisis. It explodes into crisis in other different areas of life, will cause harm for decades, and needs to be changed fast, because houses take years to build. Otherwise, every year the crisis will be more painful, because people and business simply leave.

Rafiq Tschannen
Rafiq Tschannen

200 people queing to see an appartment and get a form to fill in. Well, forms run out before all the people got in to view the flat. Yeah, difficult.

Heinrich
Heinrich

We applied more than 100 times. Still no positive out come . I’m still stack in the hotel apartment Morgan 2.5 ( two and half years . Me and my wife we moved to Switzerland 2023. I am a Swiss Citizen.

Jorg Hiker
Jorg Hiker

Switzerland has to build hew houses now and fast, because it takes a decade to solve the issue (houses, materials and building labor has its limits). Waiting until the crisis means it will be too late.

Leshek
Leshek
@Jorg Hiker

Building new Houses..! Where? It is already built out...; especially Zurich and outskirsts

Jorg Hiker
Jorg Hiker
@Leshek

@Leshek You did not see much abroad, did you? Swiss cities have many blocks, whole districts, of uncomfortable small apartments with problems unheard elsewhere, like not flushing toilets at night and no space for washing machines in apartments. In modern cities, they are pulled down and rebuilt as higher buildings. This solves housing shortage and creates space for nature and wider streets. Wider streets solve another Swiss problem - inefficient public transport, which prevents people from living away from work places. Nature benefits, because people move and remote areas are restored to nature. Switzerland must rebuild concrete houses from the 20. century and wooden ones nobody-remembers-how-old, streamline building permissions where currently everybody blocks building anything for each other, and do it fast. Emerging leading countries change this way. Swiss cities appear stuck in pretending it is still 1970.

jepyerly@websud.ch
jepyerly@websud.ch
The following contribution has been automatically translated from FR.

Our small country, with its 50% of non-productive and non-constructive land, cannot accommodate more than 6 to 7 million inhabitants. At the moment, our farmland can feed around 4 million people, and our hospitals, schools, roads and prisons are completely overcrowded. Not to mention growing insecurity. Apart from a few wealthy people who benefit from this overcrowding, keeping human inhabitants is becoming more difficult and less well off than keeping domestic animals.

Notre petit Pays, avec le 50 % de non productif et non constructif , ne peut pas accueillir plus de 6 à 7millions d'habitants. Actuellement , les terres agricoles peuvent nourrir environ 4 millions d'habitants, nos hopitaux, nos écoles, nos routes, nos prisons sont complètement surchargées . Sans parler de l'insécurité croissante . A part quelques riches qui profitent de ce trop plein de population , la détention des habitants humains, devient plus difficile et moins bien lotie que la garde des animaux domestiques.

Luna
Luna
The following contribution has been automatically translated from FR.

From GE: ____It's scandalous that there are no safeguards in place for soaring housing prices. Fortunately, ASLOCA is working to protect tenants.

De GE : ____Il est scandaleux qu’aucun garde fou ne soit mis en place pour la flambée des prix de logement. Heureusement il y a l’ASLOCA qui œuvre à protéger les locataires

Daniel Christen
Daniel Christen

Decent countries make sure that all indigenous citizens enjoy proper housing. Given the shortage of proper housing in Switzerland, we should ask the question if Switzerland is indeed a decent country. That is of course not the fault of the foreigners, as far as I know, all leaders in the Swiss Government are Swiss!

Philippe76
Philippe76
The following contribution has been automatically translated from ES.

The situation is due to a loss of moral values, corruption in general both politically and economically, wanting to generate wealth at the expense of immigration, speculating with the price of housing and making it less and less easy to buy or even rent a house also for the local population.__Basing the economy on speculation is bread for today and hunger for tomorrow.__I live in Spain and previously lived in Geneva.__The situation in Spain is more of the same, generating wealth without wanting to lift a finger. Speculation and corruption. Something common these days in what is called the West.

La situacion es debida a una perdida de valores morales, corrupcion en general tanto politica como economicamente, querer generar riqueza a costa de la inmigracion, especulando con el precio de la vivienda y haciendo cada vez menos facil adquirir o incluso alquilar una vivienda tambien para la poblacion local.__Basar la economia en especulacion es pan para hoy y hambre para el mañana.__Vivo en España y con anterioridad vivi en Ginebra.__La situacion en España es mas de lo mismo, generar riqueza sin querer mover un dedo. Especulacion y corrupcion. Algo comun por estos tiempos en lo que se llama occidente.

Michelangelo Francesco Benedetti
Michelangelo Francesco Benedetti
The following contribution has been automatically translated from DE.

The inflationary use of hardship may hide the real hardship. You talk about the hardship in Zurich, you talk about the hardship of the people in Gaza. Are you talking about the same thing

Der inflationäre Gebrauch von Not mag die echte Not ausblenden. Du sprichst von der Not in Zürich, du sprichst von der Not der Menschen in Gaza. Sprichst du vom Selben

Anatolii G. Komar
Anatolii G. Komar
The following contribution has been automatically translated from RU.

I live in Kiev, Ukraine. I have my own small flat, in which I lived back in the USSR. In the early 90s, millions of people got their own flats. I was lucky - the house is quite high quality, brick. The houses that were built 3-5 years later, in the mid-60s, are worse, they are made of concrete panels. My wife and I live in the flat now. For two people the flat is not bad - two rooms, kitchen, bathroom. Although the total area is only 42 square metres. The place is also comfortable - not the centre of the city, but not new districts to which it takes a long time to get there. __Our daughter has her own flat, also in Kiev. We didn't buy the flat on credit - we paid part of it and part of it was paid by our daughter. This is probably not a typical way of buying a home in Switzerland. Although in Ukraine it happens often. My daughter's flat is bigger than ours and more comfortable, in a new building. __Unfortunately, as a result of the war, the price of flats in Kiev has dropped a lot. Probably twice as much. Before the war, they were only getting more expensive. And now the housing market has practically stopped. __As a result of shelling, we had several windows broken - a Russian drone hit a neighbouring house. It is clear that almost no one is buying flats in Kiev. Now flats in the west of Ukraine are in demand - they are much further away from the front and there is no shelling. __PS Please apologise for any mistakes. I don't often write in Russian

Я живу в Киеве, Украина. У меня собственная небольшая квартира, в которой я жил еще при СССР. В начале 90-х миллионы людей получили свои квартиры в собственность. Мне повезло – дом достаточно качественный, кирпичный. Дома, которые строились на 3-5 лет позже, в середине 60-х, хуже, они собраны из бетонных панелей. В квартире мы живем сейчас вдвоем с женой. Для двоих квартира не плохая – две комнаты, кухня, санузел. Хотя общая площадь всего 42 квадратных метра. Место тоже комфортное – не центр города, но и не новые районы, до котоых ехать долго.__Наша дочь имеет свою квартиру, тоже в Киеве. Квартиру покупали не в кредит – часть оплатили мы, часть – дочка. Наверное, такой путь покупки жилья, не типичный для Швейцарии. Хотя в Украине такое бывает часто. Квартира у дочки больше, чем наша, и комфортнее, в новом доме. __К сожалению, в результате войны, стоимость квартир в Киеве сильно упала. Наверноє в два раза. До войны они становились только дороже. А сейчас рынок жилья практически остановился.__В результате обстрелов у нас было разбито несколько окон – русский дрон попал в соседний дом. Понятно, что почти никто не покупаєт квартиры в Киеве. Сейчас спросом пользуются квартиры на западе Украины – там намного дальше от фронта и обстрелов не бывает.__PS Прошу извинить за возможные ошибки. Я не часто пишу по русски

Geko-2025
Geko-2025
The following contribution has been automatically translated from DE.

I had lived in Switzerland since my birth in Geneva in 1960 and emigrated to Germany in 2023 at the age of 63 because as an early retiree I could no longer financially support and finance myself and my family, wife and child of German nationality in Switzerland. In the meantime, we are self-employed in the health sector / industry and are working on being able to finance a future in a pensionable salary as a family with a German / Swiss background in a political felt and corrupt economic system that often eludes any basic moral principle. ____Greetings from Freiburg i Brßg.

Ich war in der Schweiz Wohnhaft seit meiner Geburt in Genf 1960 im Jahre 2023 bin ich mit 63 nach Deutschland ausgewandert da ich mich als Frührentner auch Finanziell nicht mehr mit meiner Familie Frau und Kind Deutscher Nationalität in der Schweiz nicht mehr halten und Finanzieren konnte .__Aus der Not heraus keine größere Wohnung gefunden zu haben da die Eigentümer. Der Immobilie oft auch Emigranten waren und sind haben wir erfolglos über mehrere Jahre hinweg für größere Wohnungen beworben und mussten Angebote an Landsleute mit nicht Schweizerischer Herkunft abtreten.__Wir zwischenzeitlich Selbständig Erwerbende im Gesundheits Sektor / Branche Arbeiten daran eine Zukunft im Rentenälter noch finänzieren zu können als Familie mit Deutsch / Schweizerischen Hintergrund in einem Politischen Filz und Korrupten Wirtschaft system welches oft jedem Moralischen Grundprinzip sich entzieht. ____Gruss aus Freiburg i Brßg.

JustTheFacts
JustTheFacts

It is obvious to any educated individual that when an immigration policy exists to facilitate EU and third country nationals (and their families) to come to a country, there needs to be housing and that housing needs to grow in line with immigration and local needs.__.__It is also obvious that when other countries in the vicinity (Europe) become undesirable places to live (economics, racism, poor Governments), that people will look to better countries, such as Switzerland.

jepyerly@websud.ch
jepyerly@websud.ch
The following contribution has been automatically translated from FR.
@JustTheFacts

Every country has a duty to house, feed and secure its inhabitants. This must be done in relation to the surface area of the territory, taking into account all natural needs, water, food and the need for building land. If the concentration of people is too great, serious problems arise. This is what is happening in Switzerland at the moment: for example, large factories are being opened that only work with imported materials and labour. Then Mr Trump puts taxes on what we have produced out of the ground. Negative profit!!!

Chaque Pays, a le devoir de loger , nourrir et sécuriser ses habitants, Cela doit se réaliser en fonction de la surface du territoire, tenant compte de tous les besoins naturels, eau, alimentation et besoins de surfaces en construction. Si la concentration humaine est trop forte, les graves problèmes surviennent. C'est ce qui arrive en Suisse actuellement.Exemple, on ouvre de grandes usines, qui ne fonctionnent que grâce à du matériel et main-d’œuvre importés. Ensuite, M. Trump met des taxes sur ce que nous avons produit hors sol. Bénéfice négatif !!!

Akiqaz
Akiqaz

The RPG/LAT/LPT restricts the possibility of building in new areas and immigration is around hundred thousand people per year.____There are more people, less building opportunities, more energy efficiency requirements: all these translate into higher and higher prices.__It should be no surprise that the result is more expensive flats and more expensive rents.____Without any change in these conditions, safe a big economical crisis, the prices will keep going up

LAKZ
LAKZ
The following contribution has been automatically translated from DE.

The purchase of the first home should be supported and from the second or third it must be made more difficult (either with support such as loans for first-time buyers or through taxes for those who already own property). It is unacceptable that with the few opportunities that still exist, people who are already homeowners can bid big (and also get mortgages more easily) and then rent them out at high prices to those who do not own a home. New laws are needed in this regard!

Der Erwerb des ersten Eigenheims soll unterstützt werden und ab dem zweiten oder dritten muss es erschwert werden (entweder mit Unterstützung wie Darlehen der Erstkäufer oder durch Steuern für die, die schon Immobilien besitzen). Es kann nicht sein, dass bei den wenigen Möglichkeiten, dies noch gibt, Leute die bereits Hausbesitzer sind, gross mitbieten können (und auch einfacher Hypotheken bekommen), um diese dann denen ohne Eigenheim teuer zu vermieten. Es braucht neue Gesetze diesbezüglich!

Kayman
Kayman

Hi all, I think this is absolutely wrong comparison in terms of population increase and immigration policies between both the countries. __Switzerland is definitely not making any mistake as per population growth and demand for housing. __Price increases in Switzerland are not because of housing shortage. Inflation and strengthening of Swiss Franc has been reasons for prices. (Higher costs of construction)__Even if you create a supply of housing it will not help.__Construction costs and sourcing of materials are other reason for higher prices.____This is no way of fixing values of the housing for making it affordable.____Income growth and per capita income increase will be the only way going forward. ____England is behind the curve because of poor policies and immigration. Pound has weakened in last 20 yers and Swiss franc has strengthened in last 20 years.____Absolute wrong comparison in socio economic and demographics.

Vindi
Vindi
The following contribution has been automatically translated from DE.

Only those who have either inherited or have good salaries have always been able to afford it anyway. This is nothing new

Das können sich seit jeher sowieso nur die leisten, die entweder geerbt haben oder gute Löhne habe. Das ist nichts Neues

Rafiq Tschannen
Rafiq Tschannen

The biggest mistake of my life I made when I sold my house, which I bought for 770000 Sfr for 1.25 Million. If I had waited a bit I could have got 2.5 million Sfr....

JustATest
JustATest

This is the question. Has there (ever) been a baby-boom in Switzerland - if so what is the number of births per woman to be categorized as baby boom? It is it more that now there is a clear and definitive shortage of children born in Switzerland and many adults without children and rarely more then 1 child or 2 - which might be due to the following factors: 1) costs (health insurance, childcare, costs if living, lack affordable flats or houses - no "space" for more children 2) due to financial pressure mostly no time for children when both work full time? The effects however are clear. More dependence on families and children born abroad and of course people grown up and educated outside of Switzerland - so the general politics and harsh environment for families might keep taxes for rich people low but in the end might jeopordize the future of Switzerland as a whole as children are the future - not just a bad phrase.

Anonym-er
Anonym-er
The following contribution has been automatically translated from DE.

We are living in a modern slavery era, so to speak. The property and banking lobbies want the population to work for a house or flat for the rest of their lives. The states must build social housing and sell it on to people and families who have low incomes and do not yet own a home without making a profit. In Switzerland this must be in the form of high-rise buildings as Switzerland has little land. Politics (the state) builds houses itself so that the property lobby is stopped and suppressed. There must be an initiative for state-owned flats.

Wir leben quasi in einer modernen Sklavenzeit. Immobilien und Banken Lobby wollen das die Bewölkung ganzes Lebenlang für ein Haus oder Wohnung arbeitet. __Die Staaten müssen soziale Wohnungen bauen und an die Menschen und Familien, wo niedrigen einkommen und noch kein Wohnung besitzen ohne Gewinn (Profit) weiter verkaufen. In der Schweiz muss das in Hochhäuser Form sein da die Schweiz wenig Land hat. Die Politik (Staat) baut selber Häuser damit Immobilien-Lobby gestoppt und unterdrückt wird. Es muss ein Initiative geben für die Staat-Wohnungen.

Andermattli
Andermattli
@Anonym-er

The policy you recommend has been tried in many countries with, at best, only minimal success. Looking for a recent example of this in Western Europe? The Netherlands has been doing what you suggest for decades and nearly 40% of housing is/was publicly owned. Is the housing shortage in that country any less serious? No, it is not. The Swiss have thus far resisted heavy-handed socialist economic policies, and they are not inclined to agree with you when such things are put to a vote. Large tracts of public housing attract the less well-to-do, to put it nicely, and the Swiss have no desire to become like other economically and socially degraded EU nations. Thank you but no thank you.

Pelicanbat
Pelicanbat

The worst part is the lack of choice (buying or renting). There are so few apartments advertised in areas within a reasonable commuting distance (bus/train) of major job hubs (and so many people competing for the same apartments!) that you are often just have to take whatever you get. ____My friends in other countries cannot understand how I can earn so much money but live in such a terrible quality apartment. Of course I would like something better, but don't want to spend all my free time playing the apartment hunting lottery - and have to pay an extra 2-3K rent per month for something slightly better :P

S.SantAna
S.SantAna
@Pelicanbat

Sometimes people need to come out of their comfort zones. I give you my example, I live in Glarus municipality and for a 4,5Flat I pay the half of an identical flat in Zürich.I would never spend half of my salary as I see most people doing to live just a few minutes of their workplace!!

Leshek
Leshek
@Pelicanbat

That is why I declined to sell my 3 room apt in Zurich.. for now..; i m retired.. and risk the future downfall..

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