ThoseReal estate in Geneva
The number of accommodation available has been at the lowest since 2012
The vacancy rate is falling down, plunging at 0.34%. A first tangible sign of the slowdown in the rhythm of construction?
Image of the Tower of Vernets, which is part of the Quai des Vernets project, which will create 1355 new housing.
Enrico Gastaldello
- The rate of vacant housing in Geneva reaches 0.34%, its lowest level since 2012
- Geneva rents increased by 1.8%, particularly affecting modest income
- The construction of new dwellings drops by 40% over the last twelve months
- The Villas zone represents the main potential for future real estate projects
Maximum voltage on the market real estate in Geneva. After two consecutive years of increase, the vacancy rate (the relationship between the number of vacant and existing housing) plunged 0.34% to 1is June, against 0.46% a year earlieraccording to the figures unveiled at the start of the week by the Cantonal Office of the statistical (Hoteat).
A threshold so low had not been recorded since 2012.
It’s simple: there are only 858 free dwellings throughout the canton. And if the share of goods for sale has progressed slightly (216 against 156 a year earlier), that of housing available for rental has decreased from 988 to 642. Said otherwise, if we are a tenant (which is the case for four in five Genevans), this is really not the time to move.
“If, in addition, you are looking for a specific number of pieces or a particular district, then the offer becomes really very small,” says Matti Langel, statistician at the OCSTAT.
Returns up
Among the most populous municipalities in the canton, Meyrin, Lancy and Vernier are distinguished by an extremely low vacancy rate, oscillating between 0.16% and 0.18%.
A shortage situation is established as soon as this rate does not exceed 2%. “We are far from it,” sums up Matti Langel, while recalling that the figures are barely better nationwide (1.08% in 2024) and in particular in large urban centers.
“This situation puts pressure on the tenants and increase rents“, Lands up the socialist Caroline Marti. Between 2024 and 2025, rents actually climbed 1.8% in Geneva, which represents the highest annual increase since 2012.
“This strikes in particular the smallest incomes and households in the middle class,” adds the deputy, vice-president of ASLOCA Geneva, noting that it is the small dwellings, as well as the three and eighty-pieces that turn out to be the rarest.
Corporation of construction
At the end of the lake, the pressure that is exercised on the real estate market is explained in particular by continuous population growth, doped by The good health of the Geneva economy. It was still up to 1.1% last year, mainly due to sustained immigration.
The demand for housing is constantly maintained at a high threshold (also reinforced by a societal trend in the increase in divorces and celibates), while the supply does not hold the cadence. At least, not as much as in recent years.
After reaching historical heights at the start of the 2020 decade (with 3,500 new dwellings on average per year), the construction of housing shows signs of shortness of breath since the second half of 2024. Out of the last twelve months, the gain is 2123 dwellings, down 40%.
“The offer contracts”
“If we do not put new housing on the market, the offer contracts,” observes Romain Lavizzari, member of the Committee of the Association of Geneva Manufacturers (APCG), for him, the “exceptional” rate of the last three years has constituted a “historic anomaly”.
New districts have come out of the ground almost simultaneously, like the pond, In-law or La Chapelle-Les Sciers. But Not enough to reverse the trend. “We have built a lot, but it was to catch up,” insists Caroline Marti.
The battle of the new master plan
And in the future? More than 8000 dwellings are under construction, notes the OCSTAT. Large projects are at touching end like Rolliet, in Plan-les-Ouates, and Concorde, in Vernier, as well as the Vernets, the first major district to see the light of day in the future city of the Pav. What suggest that the contraction of the vacancy rate would only be temporary?
Romain Lavizzari does not believe it. “There is still potential, but the remaining building areas often bring together small owners who must be agreed. The implementation of future projects will be very long, ”he predicted.
Not to mention that opposition to densification policy is always lively within part of the population. In the frame The revision of the cantonal master planAntonio Hodgers identified the Villas zone as “the real reservoir” for future projects. Now this is also where the opposition of residents and d’associations antidensification promises to be the fiercest.
“Latest news”
Do you want to stay at the top of the info? “Tribune de Genève” offers you two meetings per day, directly in your e-mailbox. To not miss anything of what is happening in your canton, Switzerland or in the world.
Other newsletters
Did you find an error? Please report it to us.
