Rents in Switzerland continue to rise
Asking rents barely moved month-on-month at the start of the year. Year-on-year, however, rents in most cantons rose significantly once again. This is shown by the latest Homegate rent index.
The monthly rental index compiled by the digital property marketplace Homegate in collaboration with Zürcher Kantonalbank closed at 129.5 points in January. Compared to the previous month, the index rose by just 0.2 per cent, Homegate reported in a press release. In contrast, the property marketplace’s experts recorded a 3.1 per cent increase in asking rents across Switzerland compared to the previous year.
Within the cantons, Homegate’s experts have observed significant year-on-year increases in many cases. In the canton of Graubünden and the two combined cantons of Appenzell, however, asking rents in January 2025 were 0.8 and 0.5 per cent lower than in January 2024. Appenzell continued the decline that began in the previous month. Graubünden, on the other hand, has somewhat offset the decline of the past two months, but remains below the level of around a year ago, according to the press release.
In the eight Swiss cities included in the index, the experts have identified consistently rising asking rents over the past twelve months. In the press release, they highlight Lucerne and Basel with increases of 7.7 and 6.6 per cent respectively. Rents in Lucerne were 1.4 per cent lower than in December 2024. At -2.2 per cent, Lugano recorded the sharpest month-on-month decline. Rents in the city of Bern, on the other hand, rose by 0.6 per cent compared to December 2024.
Homegate is a division of SMG Swiss Marketplace Group AG. This combines the digital marketplaces of TX Group, Ringier and Mobiliar.