Selling a condominium? Top in the agglomeration, patience in the countryside
Anyone who wanted to buy a condominium in 2022 had to be quicker and had less choice than in 2021. In other words: condominiums sold more easily again, especially in the conurbations. In rural areas, on the other hand, they were less in demand in many places than a year ago. Overall, the number of advertised condominiums decreased by five percent last year. At the same time, the average length of listing fell by nine percent. In summary, this results in higher demand than a year ago. This is astonishing, since interest rates increased significantly during this time, but the use of home offices decreased.
The latest edition of the Online Home Market Analysis by the real estate portals Homegate and ImmoScout24 in collaboration with the Swiss Real Estate Institute (SwissREI) analyses the listing data for condominiums for the year 2022. The listings analysed come from several large real estate portals in Switzerland and thus comprise the majority of all online listings for the period under review.
Number and duration of listings declines
While the listing duration of condominiums remained above 80 days during the Covid19 pandemic, it has now declined again by eight days to 77 days nationwide for 2022. At the same time, there was a five-percent decrease in supply to a good 70,000 properties. The combination of these two values shows that, viewed across Switzerland as a whole, demand for condominiums has increased in 2022.
For Martin Waeber, Managing Director Real Estate at SMG Swiss Marketplace Group, the results of the current analysis show the robustness of the Swiss real estate market: “Home ownership is and will remain a sought-after but limited commodity in Switzerland. For despite significantly higher financing costs, condominiums sold faster again last year than in the previous year”. With the exception of the regions of Ticino and Geneva, the length of time for which condominiums are held has shortened, in some cases significantly, in the majority of the regions surveyed. “On the one hand, this shows the continuing and even increased demand for condominiums. On the other hand, real estate platforms such as Homegate and ImmoScout24 are the best possible way to avoid missing out on offers in a highly competitive market and to maintain an often time-critical lead,” Waeber continues.
Listing times in the regions are levelling out – except in Ticino
Looking at the individual regions of Switzerland, the range in listing times has narrowed over the past year. In other words, the Swiss real estate market is becoming more balanced in terms of condominium sales. Condominiums continued to sell fastest in the Zurich region, namely within 43 days. This value remained unchanged compared to 2021. In six other regions, the time it took to put an apartment up for sale fell by between five and 17 per cent. The situation is different in Geneva, where the average listing time increased slightly by just under two per cent. Ticino continues to be decoupled from the other regions. Here, the already longest duration of listings increased by another seven per cent last year.
Almost nationwide increase in demand for condominiums
The combination of changes in the duration of listings and the number of listings allows conclusions to be drawn about demand in Switzerland as a whole and in the individual regions. In the Zurich region, for example, a 13-percent increase in the number of advertisements was registered compared to the previous year. Since, despite this increase in supply, the duration of listings in Zurich did not increase to the same extent – but on the contrary remained unchanged between 2021 and 2022 – an increased demand for condominiums in this region can be deduced from this.
With one exception – Ticino – the same picture emerges for the remaining regions of Switzerland: for 2022, they all record a combination of housing duration and number of units, which places them in the area of increasing demand. In Ticino, on the other hand, condominiums had to be advertised for nine days longer last year with an almost unchanged supply until sale. It can therefore be concluded that demand is decreasing in this region.
Agglomerations clearly stronger in trend than rural communities
Differences in the demand for condominiums are not only evident with regard to the regions, but a clear picture also emerges when comparing the types of communities: while in the communities in the first agglomeration belt (“suburban communities”) seven of the eight regions examined show an increased demand for residential property, in contrast, a weakening demand was frequently observed in the “rural commuter communities”. The rural communities in the regions of Espace Mittelland and Ticino suffered a particularly strong decline in demand. On the other hand, demand only increased in Zurich and central Switzerland. The situation is completely different in the suburban municipalities: here it is only Ticino where demand declined slightly, even in the agglomeration.
For Peter Ilg, head of the Swiss Real Estate Institute, it is astonishing how quickly the real estate markets have developed “back to normal” after the Covid19 pandemic: “During the pandemic it was often claimed that an irreversible trend towards a new world of work had begun. Just one year later, we see that this is hardly the case. Home office is already being significantly reduced again in most, especially smaller, companies. This is also reflected in the change in demand for condominiums: rural communities are once again less in demand, while those around the centres are once again much more in demand.”