Housing in Switzerland

Different facets of housing

Housing is important for individuals and households. Having a roof over one's head, feeling at home, gives a sense of security and are key elements in fulfilling one’s fundamental needs.

A home also provides a stable address for a person or a household, which is essential for access to the labour market. Housing, which is a major item of household expenditure, also contributes to the perceived quality of life. And an acceptable quality of life largely depends on the possibility of affordable housing of an adequate size and satisfactory quality.

At a macroeconomic level, the supply of housing is dependent on the area available, spatial planning policy, demand for flats and the supply of jobs.

The aim of this page is to briefly present the different facets of housing and illustrate the main statistical results available.

Swiss housing stock

Housing stock in Switzerland

In 2022, the Swiss housing stock comprised 4.7 million dwellings. Of these, one million were single-family houses. Switzerland's housing stock is mainly made up of medium-size properties, half of which have three or four rooms.

The size of the housing stock has risen by almost 50% since 1990.

Detailed results: Dwellings

Detailed results: Size of the dwelling

Average floor space of dwellings per person

How large is the average floor space per person by canton and according to various characteristics such as size of dwelling, period of construction or age of occupants?

The average floor space per person in Switzerland is 46.5m². Floor space per person has been increasing in recent decades due for example to the ageing of the population and a reduction in the average size of households.

Differences can be seen at regional level: Average floor space per occupant is 51.1m² in rural communes, whereas in urban communes it is much lower (44.4m²).

Detailed results: Floor space per occupant

Tenants and owners

What is the proportion of tenants and owners, by canton or according to various characteristics such as household type or dwelling size?

Switzerland is a country of tenants: the vast majority of households live in rented accommodation (2.4 million). In contrast, just over a third of households live in their own home. This share has been declining slightly in recent years.

The proportion of owner-occupied dwellings varies widely, depending, for example, on the canton or on the property or household type analysed.

Detailed results Tenants / owners

Number of second homes (ARE)

What is the proportion of dwellings used as second homes?

The share of second homes in each commune is published by the ARE at the end of March each year.

ARE website only available in French, German and Italian.

Average rents

How high are average rents in Switzerland by canton and according to various characteristics such as length of tenancy, size of dwelling or period of construction?

In 2022, the average monthly rent for three and four-room dwellings was CHF 1478. Average monthly rent was highest in the cantons of Zug, Zurich and Schwyz. The most inexpensive rents were found in the cantons of Jura and Neuchâtel. Rents also vary widely depending on the location and characteristics of the property.

Costs per floor space and rent index

What are the average rents in Switzerland, by canton and by various characteristics such as the length of the tenancy, the size of the dwelling or the period of construction?

Within the framework of the new annual population census system, the structural survey provides statistics on housing rents in Switzerland. In contrast to the rental index, which measures changes in rents while maintaining the structure of the rental market fixed, the structural survey takes an annual snapshot of average rents by various characteristics, such as region, length of tenancy, size of dwelling or period of construction.

Detailed results: Rented dwellings

What is the average change in rents?

The standard basket of the Consumer Price Index includes housing rents. Average rent changes are measured on a quarterly basis. table only available in French, German and Italian.

A “Special coverage” page on housing rents provides detailed information on this topic Housing rents special page

Cost of housing in the household budget

Cost of housing in household budgets

What proportion of gross household income is spent on housing, by income group? Housing is a basic need and has an impact on the amount of money available to satisfy other needs. This applies in particular to low-income households.

Quality of life and housing deprivation

Crowded dwelling, problems with dwelling and disturbances in the dwelling and surroundings

Crowded dwelling: the household does not have the minimum number of rooms. In 2021 and in 2022, 5.8% of people in Switzerland were living in a crowded dwelling.

In 2022, 19.1% of people in Switzerland lived in a noisy environment caused by neighbours or the street and 8.2% suffered from problems resulting from criminality, violence or vandalism in the neighbourhood.

Satisfaction with housing

Almost 12% of persons aged under 65 living alone and around 10% of those living in lone-parent households, the unemployed, people on low incomes and foreign nationals are rather dissatisfied with their housing conditions (values ranging from 0 to 5 on the measurement scale), compared with 5.6% of the population as a whole. People without post-compulsory education and tenants are also more often dissatisfied with their housing than the average.

Home moves

How many people move home in Switzerland each year? How many move to a new home within the same commune or canton? Which segment of the population moves home most often?

Every year, almost 10% of Switzerland's population moves home. People living in urban communes move more often than those in rural communes (10.2% compared with 7.8% in 2022). Almost three-quarters of the people who moved did so within the same canton.

Detailed results : Home moves

How do people in Switzerland heat their homes?

How do people in Switzerland heat their homes? What are the main energy sources by canton and according to various characteristics such as building type or period of construction?

Although the use of heating oil has declined constantly over the past 40 years, in 2022, 56.8% of residential buildings in Switzerland were heated by fossil fuels (heating oil and gas). 18.5% of buildings were connected to a heat pump, a proportion that is rising sharply.

Detailed results: Energy sector

Empty dwellings and new housing

Empty dwellings

The dwelling vacancy rate is the percentage of empty dwellings (on 1st June) in the total number of dwellings of the previous year, taken from the buildings and dwellings statistics (BDS).

From the year 2000 onward, the ratio of empty dwellings to the housing stock hovered at around 1% for more than a decade. The rate subsequently rose steadily, reaching a record level of 1.72% in 2020. In the years that followed, housing construction also declined and the supply of housing shrank again, bringing the dwelling vacancy rate down to 1.15% on the survey date of 1 June 2023.

On that day, there were 54 765 vacant dwellings for which no tenant or buyer had been found. This represents 1.15% of all dwellings in Switzerland (including single-family homes), i.e. 6731 fewer properties than a year earlier. This was the third consecutive decline and one of the largest in the past twenty years. The majority of dwellings on the market were three and four-room apartments.

Newly built housing

Housing construction in Switzerland peaked between 2013 and 2018: during this period, an average of 50 000 new dwellings were built every year. A reversal of trends has been seen in recent years. In 2021, 10 051 new residential buildings were counted in the survey, providing a total of 45 307 new dwellings.

At the turn of the millennium, each new residential building contained an average of two dwellings. This figure more than doubled in the space of twenty years. As a result, the number of new single-family houses has also fallen by at least half. In 2021, only 5376 new single-family houses were built. However, this still represents more than half of all new residential buildings.

Detailed results: Available in French and German

Further information

Links

Maps of Switzerland - Swiss Confederation

Statistical sources and concepts

Surveys