Countries · Switzerland
What to check in Switzerland before you sign.
There are barely any vacant flats left. Every change of tenant resets the rent higher. Anyone who misses the objection deadline pays that increase for years.
What costs the most money in Switzerland
The vacancy rate stood at 1.0 percent on 1 June 2025. That is 48,455 empty flats across the country, the fifth fall in a row. In Geneva it is 0.34 percent, in Zug 0.42 and in Zurich 0.48.
Source: Swiss Federal Statistical Office, vacant dwellings count 2025
Purchase costs
1.0 to 3.3%
of the purchase price, on top of the price in the listing.
- Property transfer tax, by canton10 to 33‰
- Schwyznone
- Zurich, Uri, Glarus, Zug, Schaffhausen, Aargau, Ticinofees instead
- Notary and land registercantonal, additional
Source: Federal Tax Administration, dossier on property transfer tax. The tax is normally paid by the acquirer, and split in half in Basel-Landschaft and Obwalden. There are no official rates for agents' commissions, which is why no overall range is given here.
The trap for tenants
The initial rent can only be challenged within 30 days of taking over the flat. After that it is final. In nine cantons (in whole or in part, as of 13.10.2026) the landlord has to justify any increase over the previous tenant's rent on an official form.
Without that justification the rent was never validly agreed, and most tenants do not know it.
Source: Swiss Code of Obligations, Article 270, and Swiss Tenants' Association
Energy and the duty to renovate
The cantonal building energy certificate is voluntary in principle; the cantons set the duties themselves. In the canton of Fribourg it has been compulsory for transfers and new builds since 2013. For subsidy applications covering refurbishment and heating replacement, the extended version is becoming mandatory step by step.
Source: GEAK and Conference of Cantonal Energy Directors, 2025
What to watch for in Switzerland in particular
The land register is not freely open here. Without a demonstrated interest you see only the designation, the owner, the date of acquisition and the easements. Everything else stays hidden. Binding information on building zone, noise and contaminated sites does come from the register of public-law restrictions on landownership. It is free of charge, plot by plot.
Source: Swiss Civil Code, Article 970, and the federal cadastre of public-law restrictions
Official maps in Switzerland
12 map layers lie directly over your property.
Not as an average for the district, but at your exact address, with a legend and a visible source. Every layer can be switched on separately.
Check it yourself
The official bodies in Switzerland.
These bodies are grouped by category: property and encumbrances, energy, natural hazards and more. The report on your property names the responsible bodies, with the date checked and a link. A figure you cannot verify is not a figure, it is a claim.
over 400
official data sources
6
categories
What this costs
CHF 10.6bn
is what Swiss tenants paid in 2023 above what the cost rules of tenancy law would have required. On average 360 francs per flat per month.
Source: Calculation by Büro BASS for the Mieterinnen- und Mieterverband, Bern, 24 January 2024. The method is publicly disputed
12%
of tenants asked for a lower rent after the last cut in the reference interest rate, although almost half of them were entitled to one.
Source: Zürcher Kantonalbank, property blog, 16 April 2026
These numbers arise after the signature. The report does the maths before it.
The market in Switzerland
90,839 new mortgage loans with a volume of 83.25 billion francs. 57,281 loans were counted for owner-occupied homes and 26,138 for rented residential property. The median mortgage for an owner-occupied home stood at 605,000 francs at the end of 2025.
A real dossier from this country
See what the analysis found on an actual listing in Switzerland — every figure with its source.
Open the example dossierOther countries