Pandemic stimulates housing market
The number of advertisements on the housing market increased significantly between April 2020 and March 2021. At the same time, the average advertising time decreased in almost all cantons. The authors of the online housing index attribute the revival of the housing market to the pandemic.
The number of advertisements for rental apartments on Swiss real estate portals increased by around 13 percent year-on-year between April 2020 and March 2021, writes SVIT Switzerland in a statement on the current online housing index (OWI). It is prepared every six months by the Association of the Real Estate Industry in cooperation with the Swiss Real Estate Institute . In the current OWI, the analysts registered around 513,000 advertisements for rental apartments.
The average period for which an apartment has to be offered until it is rented has simultaneously been reduced by two to 32 days, the analysts further explain in the press release. For them, the shortened advertising time and the increasing number of advertisements are a sign of increasing demand on the rental housing market with a simultaneous decrease in rental periods. "It can be assumed that the pandemic was the trigger for many tenants to review and adjust their own living situation," the message says.
In 21 of 26 cantons, the analysts observed a year-on-year decrease in advertising time. The advertising times in French-speaking Switzerland have hardly changed, while in German-speaking Switzerland they have decreased in all cantons. The canton of Zug currently has the shortest advertising time at 14 days. Ticino ranks at the other end of the scale. Here, apartments have to be advertised on average for almost two months before they can be rented.
In the cities, the analysts observed a “sharp rise” in advertisements for rental apartments in the reporting period. After 3.5 percent in the previous year, the number of advertisements in the “Corona year” in the twelve cities examined increased by 32 percent. However, because the average length of advertising has barely increased, the analysts assume that there will be relocations within the cities. "The much-cited urban escape" could not be proven with the figures, it says in the message.