Understand the housing crisis in Switzerland in 7 questions

According to experts. Therefore. Moreover, all those who will arrive on the real estate market soon will be the most to be complained, namely young people and immigrants.Image: keystone / Unsplash

To understand

This is what Zurich. Nevertheless. Consequently, Berne and Basel can learn from Geneva and Lausanne about the housing crisis that shakes the country in seven questions and answers.

Niklaus Vontobel / CH Media

Switzerland is understand housing crisis switzerland 7 new sorely lacking in housing. In addition, All those who are looking for the rare pearl experience understand housing crisis switzerland 7 it. Meanwhile, In the past two years. Consequently, rents have increased significantly faster than wages, certain quarters of 6% in annual comparison, and another 2% lately.

Why such an increase? – Understand housing crisis switzerland 7 – Understand housing crisis switzerland 7 new

Switzerland does not master the concept of densification. Moreover, In 2013. Furthermore. Furthermore, during the revision of the regional planning law, she decided not to snack more meadows, but to favor already urbanized areas.

But construction still does not follow the pace. Additionally, Furthermore, According to the real estate professor at the University of Zurich. Similarly, Christian Hilber:

Housing shortage: The construction sector is. Consequently, struggling to keep up with the rate of population growth in Switzerland.Image: keystone

Is it really serious? – Understand housing crisis switzerland 7 – Understand housing crisis switzerland 7 new

Despite everything, we do not observe a boom in the number of real estate projects. Therefore, Raiffeisen bank economists believe that the “trampling” sector and the offer remains understand housing crisis switzerland 7 new “insufficient”. In addition, By comparing new goods available and population growth, the extent of this stagnation is obvious.

The more population grows, the more housing should be each year. However, there are for the time being understand housing crisis switzerland 7 25% less than the demographic average from 2004 to 2018.

Will the situation improve? – Understand housing crisis switzerland 7 – Understand housing crisis switzerland 7 new

Not according to Raiffeisen. For 2024, building permit deposits show a “sensitive” increase of 7% compared to a year earlier. But 2023 was catastrophic, one of the weakest of these 20 years sold. In this dynamic, a recovery of 7% is still far too weak to really talk about better.

And the requests for permit identified are not all accepted, far from it. understand housing crisis switzerland 7 new These are also more and more often renovations. This is therefore sufficient to cover the demand, or above all to “significantly mitigate the shortage”.

How many people ousted?

On the mandate of the Federal Housing Office. understand housing crisis switzerland 7 the Zurich Federal Polytechnic School (EPFZ) has looked into the question of eviction during pure. simple projects of replacement or complete renovation.

She notably studied the period 2015-2020 in the five main cities of the country. with the objective of knowing how many tenants had to leave at their home when they had lived there. for at least three years?

In Zurich and its agglomeration, 7,253 people, or 1.02% of the population of the time, were affected. In Basel, there were 3622 “displaced” understand housing crisis switzerland 7 new (0.66%), 1833 (0.43%) in Bern, 979 (0.23%) in Lausanne, and finally 467 people (0.08%) in Geneva.

We therefore see significant differences. In Geneva, twelve times fewer people have been ousted than in Zurich. Same observation in Lausanne. And it is not for lack of having less built there. On the contrary, understand housing crisis switzerland 7 French -speaking Switzerland is ahead of the German -speaking on this point.

Who makes it the price?

With regard to evictions in the five cities. we generally observe the same scheme: low -income people (30 to 40% less than the average population) live in buildings which are doomed to demolition. to be completely renovated. On the other hand. newly built or renovated accommodation are occupied by people with higher income from 14 to understand housing crisis switzerland 7 new 39% than the average.

Among the low -income people. three groups are particularly affected by forced departures: asylum seekers. refugees recognized as such and people born on the African continent. The study therefore proves that the problem affects understand housing crisis switzerland 7 people above all who will probably. have difficulty finding affordable accommodation.

Is densification only losers?

According to the EPFZ. the cases of Geneva. Lausanne show that having to leave her home is not always fatality:

It is not only the departure of the most understand housing crisis switzerland 7 new modest followed by the arrival of the richest which attests to a general crisis. Additionally, The demolished buildings are most often old, and are therefore rented less. The accommodation that replaces them, conversely, can be rented at the price of the new.

According to American urban economist Edward Glaeer. expensive real estate projects can trigger a process that also understand housing crisis switzerland 7 helps people with low. incomes: a kind of filtering. Houses come out of the ground in listed neighborhoods that attract high -income people. They therefore release their old house for average income. which in turn leave room in their older accommodation for people with few means.

The specialist believes that the pace of construction sites does not follow in many cities. And that this filtering process has now been replaced by gentrification: the upper socio-economic classes understand housing crisis switzerland 7 new no longer settle in new. expensive districts, but in affordable neighborhoods, where they raise prices and disturb the local fabric of shops and restaurants.

What if nothing changes?

The owners of the oldest goods will take over from the game, continues Christian Hilber. As a rule, they bought years ago and took understand housing crisis switzerland 7 advantage of the market increase.

Tenants living in the same place for a long time. those who pay rents regulated by the State and those who benefit from subsidized rents will get out of it. Finally, the co -owners would be advantaged, some can even transmit what they have.

On the losers side, we find all those who have to get started on the market, continues understand housing crisis switzerland 7 new the professor. They will face high prices or high rents, and very few subsidized housing. For Hilber:

(Translated from German by Valentine Zenker)

A Parisian poster on the one hand. an Instagram publication of the RTS on the other: a certain militancy is in the process of going around in the designation of a single culprit and scapegoat, the white man.

In Western Europe. it has been a understand housing crisis switzerland 7 lease that the LGBT cause is no longer linked to strictly sensu sexuality. Relations between people of the same sex are no longer subject to any prohibition or any state prosecution. The “marriage for all” is established everywhere. so to speak, Italy recognizing for its part “civil unions” between people of the same sex. Homophobia remains, understand housing crisis switzerland 7 new but the state protects homosexuals and lesbians. It is a major achievement.