The Federal Office of Housing (Bundesamt für Wohnungswesen BWO) publishes a report on the housing market four times a year. In its current report on the third quarter of 2022 download here as PDF), the Federal Office states that the housing market is facing a turning point. “Low, even negative interest rates and steady population growth contributed to robust demand and relatively high housing production. Especially in the rental housing sector, the market was balanced at times throughout Switzerland. The turnaround in interest rates and increasingly scarce building materials are slowing down the construction of new flats, while demand remains high. Housing supply is likely to tighten.” And further: “While rents are likely to rise slightly, the extremely strong upward price trend in the owner-occupied sector over the past two years is likely to weaken.
Offer prices should continue to rise slightly for rental and purchase properties
Regarding the development of rental prices and prices for residential property, the Federal Office writes in its market assessment: “Property prices have risen at an accelerated pace in the past two years and have reached a record high level. Previously, there had been a more or less constant increase in offer prices in all housing market segments since the turn of the millennium. This had weakened (ownership) or even reversed (rent) from 2015 onwards. Supply rents then stabilised in peripheral locations, while in more central areas the increase continued – in some cases significantly at the end of the day. Due to the lack of supply, the rise in property prices is likely to continue in a weakened form for the time being, despite interest rate increases.
