Too much land used for residential construction?
Every tenth household has too much living space in its own estimation. This is the conclusion of a study published by the Federal Office of Housing (BWO).
The study is based on data from the Swiss Household Panel and concludes that around ten percent of all households consider their consumption of living space to be too high - that would be around 350,000 households throughout Switzerland. The greatest savings potential lies in the space consumption of older people, single-person households and owner-occupiers. If suitable offers are available, these are also likely to be willing to reduce their space requirements by changing their home, according to the BWO.
For many other households with above-average living space consumption, however, a move to a smaller residential property is "basically not an issue," according to the BWO. They do not believe they have too much living space. These households could only be persuaded to move into a smaller apartment and reduce the amount of living space they use by taking specific measures.
The instruments that could be used to influence the consumption of living space are shown in a second study, which was initiated together with the Cantonal and Urban Development Department of the Canton of Basel-Stadt. It compares 14 instruments that limit residential space consumption or promote its reduction, such as incentive taxes or taxes that reward lower residential space consumption. The authors recommend four instruments for implementation: occupancy regulations as well as space restrictions for subsidized cooperative and other non-profit housing, relocation assistance through specific consultations, and the possibility of building more living space if space is saved in it.
However, the study authors also write that the measures would be unlikely to be enforceable: "The more effective the instruments to reduce residential land consumption, the more drastically they would change the way the housing market works today and counteract other important concerns." This would apply to incentive taxes, among other things: Enormously high amounts of money would have to be paid in and out so that ultimately less living space per capita would be occupied. The disadvantages of these instruments are likely to weigh too heavily today and therefore be rejected, the BWO suspects.
The background to the investigations is, among other things, the approval by the people of the revision of the Spatial Planning Act in 2013, which showed that the population wants to protect the landscape and cultivated land. However, housing is one of the most important reasons for land consumption and urban sprawl. For example, the area of residential buildings in Switzerland increased by 53 percent between 1985 and 2009, while the residential population increased by only 17 percent. (ah)
