Rents in large cities stable to declining – only Zurich with significant increase
In April, asking rents in the eight Swiss cities surveyed only increased significantly in Zurich. In the remaining cities, however, advertised rents were relatively stable or even declined last month. Looking back over the year, however, asking rents have risen in all cantons and cities without exception. This is shown by the latest figures from the Homegate rent index.
The Homegate rent index for asking rents is compiled by the real estate marketplace Homegate in cooperation with Zürcher Kantonalbank (ZKB). It measures the monthly, quality-adjusted change in rents for new and re-let flats based on current market offers. Compared to the previous month, the index increased by 0.5 points in March and now stands at 120.7 points (plus 0.4 percent). Compared to the previous year, asking rents rose by 2.8 per cent across Switzerland.
Change in the cities
Of the eight Swiss cities surveyed, only Zurich saw a significant increase in asking rents in April: Here, advertised rents rose by 1.8 per cent, which is significantly more than the 0.6 per cent increase in the canton of Zurich. In most of the other cities surveyed, however, asking rents remained relatively stable within a range of plus 0.3 per cent in St. Gallen and minus 0.3 per cent in Lausanne. In contrast, asking rents declined significantly in Bern (0.8 per cent) and Lucerne (1.4 per cent). However, the year-on-year comparison shows a positive trend without exception, led by the cities of Zurich (8.2 per cent) and Lugano (6.8 per cent). Only in Lausanne are asking rents unchanged compared to April 2022.
Change in the cantons
The picture is different at cantonal level. Here, all but two cantons show a neutral or positive development in asking rents in April. Only in Graubünden did the advertised rents decline by 1.2 per cent, in Lucerne the decline was 0.2 per cent. In all other cantons, advertised rents either remained unchanged or rose by up to 2.4 per cent (Schwyz) last month. In addition to Schwyz, the cantons of Nidwalden (1.4 per cent) and Uri (1.3 per cent) are among those with an above-average increase. While Uri has thus reached a new high since the beginning of the measurement period, the asking rents in Nidwalden were already higher once during a few months in 2022. Looking back over the year, however, there are clear plus signs for asking rents at the cantonal level. All cantons show an increase of between one and six per cent, led by Glarus (6 per cent), Uri (4.7 per cent), Valais (4.5 per cent) and Appenzell (4.3 per cent). But even in the canton of Graubünden, which was the only canton to record a marked decline in asking rents in April, they rose by 2 per cent compared to the previous year.
Quality adjustment method
The development of asking rents in Switzerland is corrected for the different quality, location and size of the flats. The advantage of this so-called hedonic method is that the real rental price development for new and re-let flats is shown on Homegate. The Homegate rent index is the oldest quality-adjusted rent index in Switzerland and is considered a reference source for real estate professionals for determining the price of rental properties.