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Newcomers to the Swiss housing market: left out in the cold

Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The housing market has clearly felt the impact  of Switzerland’s agreement with the European Union, allowing the free movement of labour, a new study by the Swiss Federal Housing Office (OFL) shows. In Geneva and Lausanne it has had a significant impact on real estate and rental markets, mainly for higher end housing, but Zurich has been hardest hit, with low- and high-end housing prices rising as the market shrivels. The 1.8 percent growth in 2008 of the Swiss population is largely due to immigration, the OFL notes.

The study’s cutoff date for data was the end of December 2008, and the government cautions that it does not take into account the likely impact on the housing market of the economic downturn during 2009.

The impact in Lausanne was first seen in real estate but since 2007 the rental market has been shrinking. In Geneva, the market offer on the lower end simply doesn’t exist and lower income immigrants are seeking housing in France, according to the report.

The study is the first step in setting up a regular monitoring system to track the impact on the housing market of the movement of labour.

Federal Housing Office report, available in French and German