Finding accommodation in Switzerland is becoming even more difficult in many places. The number of vacant apartments has continued to fall this year. There are particularly few vacant apartments in Zug.
The number of empty apartments has decreased compared to the previous year.
Fewer and fewer apartments are empty in Switzerland. According to the Federal Statistical Office (BfS), the vacancy rate fell to 1.31 percent across Switzerland this year. That’s a significant drop. In the previous year, the key figure was 1.54.
According to the Federal Statistical Office, around 61,500 apartments were empty in Switzerland on June 1 of this year, almost 9,900 fewer than in the previous year. Last year, for the first time since 2009, there was a decline in empty apartments in Switzerland. After years of increasing, the number of vacant apartments fell again.
Accelerated decline this year
The largest declines in vacancy rates compared to the previous year were in the major regions of Ticino (from 2.83 to 2.49 percent), in Eastern Switzerland (from 1.74 to 1.42 percent) and in Central Switzerland ( from 1.06 to 0.75 percent). In absolute figures, the vacancy rate fell the most in Aargau (–1,313 residential units), in Valais (–1,040) and in Vaud (–985).
There are particularly few empty apartments in the cantons of Zug (vacancy rate 0.33 percent), Geneva (0.38 percent) and Obwalden (0.48 percent). According to the Federal Statistical Office, vacancy rates fell in 22 cantons compared to the previous year and increased in only four cantons. The strongest increase in the rate was observed in the canton of Jura, at 0.4 percentage points.
The Jura also has the highest vacancy rate in Switzerland at 2.96 percent, followed by the cantons of Solothurn (2.66 percent), Ticino (2.49 percent) and Neuchâtel (2.2 percent). In absolute figures, as in the previous year, the canton of Bern had the most vacant apartments, with 8,633 units.
Declining construction activity
According to a study by Credit Suisse, one of the most important reasons why fewer apartments are empty in Switzerland is construction activity. According to the study, this passed its peak in 2019 and has continued to decrease since then. In the past two years, a total of 4,800 fewer apartments have been granted building permits than in the two years before.
The Corona crisis and the damaged supply chains also come into play here. Delays in construction due to supply bottlenecks and the sharp rise in construction prices could temporarily intensify the decline, it said.
At the same time, the demand for apartments has continued to rise due to increased immigration to Switzerland and the pandemic. According to the study, the strong economic recovery and the progressive management of the pandemic have led to the creation of additional households. Above all, the demand for rental apartments has also benefited from immigration.
High immigration
Since 2002, the permanent resident population in Switzerland has grown by an average of 0.9 percent per year. The population has increased by 1.4 million over the past 20 years. In the year 2021 lived in this country 8.74 million people. Immigration to Switzerland peaked in the first half of this year net at almost 38,000 people. According to foreigner statistics, the net migration of the permanent foreign resident population in 2021 was around 61,000 people roughly stable compared to the previous year.
The approximately 55,000 refugees from Ukraine must also be taken into account. According to the study, these are likely to have played a subordinate role in terms of demand on the open housing market. In the first few months of their stay in Switzerland, they were finally accommodated in accommodation provided by the federal government and the cantons as well as in private households. However, the longer they are in Switzerland, the greater the demand that refugees create on the rental housing market.
trend should continue
The trend towards fewer vacant apartments is therefore likely to continue for the time being. According to the Credit Suisse study, there is currently no reaction to the construction activity. It can be assumed that the insufficient construction activity is also related to the growing scarcity of land. The revised Spatial Planning Act and various cantonal and municipal initiatives may have played a role here.
The opportunities for broad-based growth have thus been limited, while the high hurdles for densification projects remain. These include, for example, strict building laws, noise protection regulations or objections.