Housing market loses liquidity
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Rising asking rents and fewer advertised properties are deterring tenants from changing their home. The supply of small and affordable flats in particular has fallen significantly. These are the findings of an analysis by the Swiss Real Estate Institute, SVIT Switzerland and HEV.
The number of rental flats advertised on the most important property portals fell by 13 per cent year-on-year between April 2023 and March 2024 to 340,000 advertisements, according to the Swiss Real Estate Institute, SVIT Switzerland and the Swiss Homeowners Association(HEV) in their latest online flat index. “Tenants are staying in their flats because they cannot find new ones at comparable rents, which in turn reduces the supply,” they say. The property experts from the three organisations have identified a decline in the supply of small to medium-sized affordable flats in particular. In contrast, the supply of large flats has increased.
In the reporting period, around 625,000 relocations were counted across Switzerland, which is 75,000 fewer than in the same period last year. According to property experts, this lock-in effect was reinforced by the fact that existing rents rose less sharply than asking rents during the reporting period. As a result, the housing market is losing liquidity.
However, despite the reduced supply of properties, advertising times for rental flats have only shortened slightly. It has therefore not become more difficult to find a new flat, the property experts explain. However, interested parties would probably have to dig deeper into their pockets or reduce the amount of space they use.
Rising rents are leading to a reduction in living space per capita, explains study director Peter Ilg from the Swiss Real Estate Institute. “This leads to less of a housing shortage in cities, and less living space consumption per capita achieves the universally desired internal densification.”