Rents in Switzerland continue to climb as housing shortage persists
Rents in Switzerland continue to rise, a trend further accentuated by stagnant construction activity and population growth. However, according to the real estate firm Wüest Partner, building activity could accelerate in the medium term.
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In the second quarter, the index of proposed rents rose by 6.4% year-on-year, Wüest Partners reported on Tuesday in the summer update of its Immo-Monitoring 2024. The experts warned that, given sluggish construction activity and population growth, “no reversal of the situation is expected in the short term”.
Access to property is equally complicated. Prices for condominiums have risen by 3.5%, while those for houses have increased by 2.5%. Tourist regions such as Valais and Graubünden are the most representative of this trend, for both primary and secondary residences.
On the construction front, the number of new building permit applications for apartments jumped by 22% in the second quarter to a total of 34,150 units.
However, “given that many permits are still pending, it remains to be seen whether the increase in the number of applications will actually lead to an increase in construction activity”, warn the authors. Also, it takes several years from the time a building permit is applied for to the completion of a property. In the short term, “the housing shortage is expected to continue influencing the Swiss rental market”.
Translated from French by DeepL/sp
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