Residential property prices and rents rise in Corona year

The crisis year 2020 is leaving deep scars on the real estate market. However, there has not been a price collapse as initially feared - on the contrary: home prices advertised have risen sharply. Single-family houses are offered at the end of 2020 at 5.6% higher sums than at the beginning of the year. For condominiums, the increase is practically as high at 5.5%. This is shown by the latest figures from the Swiss Real Estate Offer Index, which is compiled by ImmoScout24 in collaboration with real estate consultancy IAZI AG.

During the ups and downs of the Corona pandemic, prices for residential property knew only one direction - up. Corona made many people rethink their housing situation, says Martin Waeber, Managing Director of ImmoScout24. "In most cases with a clear result: the desire for more space, more living space, if possible in property." Prices are showing upward pressure accordingly.

This affects not only the owner-occupied housing market, but also residential rents. These rose by a national average of 1.1% over the course of 2020. The Lake Geneva region, where asking rents rose by 2.5% over the course of the year, made a particular contribution to this increase. The greater Zurich region (+1.2%) also strongly influences the result due to its population size.

Rents also rose over the course of the year in eastern Switzerland (+1.3%), northwestern Switzerland (+0.8%) and central Switzerland (+0.3%). In the Central Plateau, asking rents stagnated in 2020, while they fell in Ticino (-2.6%). (bw)