If you are thinking of investing in property in Switzerland the trends in the Swiss property market are interesting. House building has actually slowed over the past 20 years from 20,000 new properties in 1980 to just fewer than 17,000 in 2005 which bucks the trend when compared to the rest of Europe.
The vast majority of Swiss property, 73.3%, is in the hands of private landlords with only 34.6% owner occupied and small percentage are owned by corporate bodies. The trend for owner occupation is on the up and for apartments in particular where the number of apartments built are up by 8% in recent years which implies a further trend towards single occupation, 56% of Swiss properties are classed as single family houses which is up 40% since 1970.
73% of new property construction is for single family homes despite planning departments trying to counter this trend and that building land is becoming increasingly rare.
What does this all mean if you considering investing in Swiss property, well the high percentage of property in the hands of private landlords is a double edged sword, the number of tenants in the market is large and on the other side the market is competitive, what is interesting however is the two trends of an ageing native population and the current influx of younger non nationals which now account for around 21% of the population.
The Swiss property market as an investment proposition clearly has a number of things going for it
- Increasing population being fuelled by younger non nationals coming to work in Switzerland
- A growing shortage of land for development
- A stable and low taxation economy
And who knows if you do find that ideal Swiss property you may find youself living next door to a Formula One Mega Star!
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