Housing: Vacancy rate rises by eleven percent
As of June 1, 2016, 56,518 or 1.30 percent of all apartments including single-family homes in Switzerland were vacant. This is an increase of eleven percent or 5,436 apartments compared to the previous year. This is shown by the vacancy census data from the Federal Statistical Office (FSO).
At 1.30 percent, the vacancy rate reached a level last seen at the turn of the millennium, the FSO writes in a media release. Since the low in 2009 (0.90%), it has risen steadily from year to year, with the increase accelerating in the last three years.
All major regions affected
As determined by the FSO, all seven major regions recorded an increase in vacant apartments. The highest change in the vacancy rate was observed in Ticino, followed by Espace Mittelland and northwestern Switzerland. It increased only slightly in the Lake Geneva region, where it rose to 1.00 percent.
A total of 18 cantons were above the 1 percent mark: Compared with the previous year, the cantons of Appenzell Innerrhoden, Fribourg and Lucerne joined them. The highest cantonal vacancy rate was observed in the canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden at 3.63 percent, followed by that of the canton of Solothurn (2.62%). The lowest vacancy rate was reported by the canton of Zug (0.34%), while the cantons of Basel-Stadt (0.42%), Geneva (0.45%) and Basel-Landschaft (0.47%) reported only slightly higher rates.
New and rented apartments are more often vacant
Above all, the number of unoccupied new apartments had risen - by a striking 1,063 units or 14 percent within a year. A total of 8,768 new apartments were vacant on the reporting date, a figure last seen in the mid-1990s, according to the FSO.
As of June 1, 2016, 45,504 rental apartments were unoccupied across Switzerland. This is the highest figure since 1999, when there were 49,107 units, the Federal Office reports. Thus, the vacant rental housing stock increased by 5,391 units, or 13 percent, compared to the previous year.
The number of vacant apartments and apartments for sale remained almost stable over the year: with a total of 11,014 units, only 45 apartments or 0.4 percent more were vacant than in the previous year.
Supply of large apartments in short supply
Compared with June 1, 2015, higher vacancy rates were recorded for one- to five-bedroom apartments. The increases amounted to between six percent (five-room apartments) and just under 20 percent (two-room apartments). Only large apartments with six or more rooms saw a decrease in the number of vacant apartments (-4%). As usual, most vacant apartments have three or four rooms.
For the purposes of the SFSO, vacant dwellings are all habitable dwellings offered for permanent rent or sale that are not occupied on the reference date (June 1). Vacant single-family homes intended for rent or sale are treated in the same way as apartments. Vacant apartments that have already been rented or sold at a later date are also counted.
However, the statistics do not include apartments that were re-rented without interruption as of June 1 or that were offered for sale or rent at a later date. The vacancy rate therefore does not provide any conclusive information on the total number of apartments offered on the housing market as of June 1. (ah)
