Bern: City increases rents for its apartments by around six percent

The city of Bern is increasing rents for municipal apartments by an average of 6.2 percent. This is due to the increase in the reference interest rate, the change in the national consumer price index and the general rise in costs, the city writes in a press release. Apartments in the "affordable housing with rental criteria (GüWR)" segment are "currently still" excluded from the current increase. According to the city, a total of around 1,450 tenants will receive a rent increase from the approximately 2,400 municipal apartments.

Michael Aebersold, the city's finance director and president of the operating committee of the Land and Housing Policy Fund, says: "The rent increase is regrettable, but unfortunately unavoidable." Without an increase, the fund would no longer be able to fulfill its legal mandate in the long term. With the end of negative interest rates, the financing costs for the fund have risen: With planned new borrowing of CHF 40 million, the budgeted interest costs in 2024 would rise from CHF 200,000 to CHF 1.2 million compared to the 2023 budget. (ah)