immo!nvest – Die Plattform für Standorte und Immobilien

Tag: Immobilien Schweiz

  • Raiffeisen warns of housing shortage

    Raiffeisen warns of housing shortage

    With interest rates rising again, the “rule of thumb, now almost set in stone”, according to which owning is financially cheaper than renting, “has started to falter”, writes Raiffeisen Switzerland in a statement on the current issue of its quarterly study “ Real Estate Switzerland ”. However, there are still financing solutions that make home ownership more financially attractive than renting, the statement continues. In addition, the demand for one’s own four walls is also being driven by “various non-financial” aspects.

    However, the demand for residential property, which continues to rise, is “meeting on a supply that has now completely dried up,” explains Martin Neff in the press release. “Hardly any new properties are being built and existing owners only sell their houses and apartments in exceptional cases,” says the chief economist at Raiffeisen Switzerland.

    The analysts at Raiffeisen Switzerland have also noticed a shortage of supply on the market for rental apartments. Due to high vacancy rates, the construction of new apartments has already been curtailed in the past, writes Raiffeisen Switzerland. In addition, demand has increased due to demographic aging and a “trend towards individualization”. In 2021, the number of newly founded households exceeded the number of newly built apartments for the first time since 2009.

    “Housing production will not be able to keep up with demand in the future either,” predicts Neff. “So the housing oversupply that prevailed until recently could soon become a housing shortage.”

  • Homes have only limited protection against inflation

    Homes have only limited protection against inflation

    Raiffeisen Switzerland has examined the connection between inflation and the development of the real estate market. In their current report “ Real Estate Switzerland ”, the bank's economists come to the conclusion that the real value of real estate is a myth. The price development over the past 50 years shows that home prices do not automatically rise with inflation rates. "Only in the very long term does the home actually protect against inflation," Raiffeisen chief economist Martin Neff is quoted in a media release.

    In contrast, even the biggest economic and social crisis in recent history, the COVID-19 pandemic, could not throw the Swiss rental housing market off course. “Even if inflation were to rise sharply in this country, we can still expect falling asking rents,” said Neff. In the opinion of the authors, any rising interest rates should not harm professional real estate investors.

    Raiffeisen sees an accelerated structural change in the stationary retail trade. Because "it is rather unlikely that non-food retailers or restaurateurs will scramble for space that is becoming empty after the experience of the last few months".

    The Raiffeisen economists paid particular attention to the “little-screened market” for building land. Buildable land is very scarce in Switzerland. At the same time, free parcels for homes and rental apartments are in great demand in the current low interest rate environment. That has caused prices to rise by almost 70 percent since 2016. Only in tourist communities have the large building land reserves and the law on second homes led to price declines. In contrast, construction prices rose only slightly.

  • Swiss Prime Investment Foundation achieves high returns

    Swiss Prime Investment Foundation achieves high returns

    The investment group SPA Real Estate Switzerland of the asset manager Swiss Prime Investment Foundation in Olten ( SPA ) closed the first half of 2021 with an investment return of 3.28 percent. In the same period of 2020, the return was 1.66 percent, according to a media release .

    The market value of the real estate portfolio also increased significantly: from 2.31 billion francs in the first half of 2020 to over 2.8 billion francs in the first half of 2021. This is due to transactions and investments. SPA added four properties worth CHF 118 million to the investment group's portfolio, including a retirement center in Bern and five apartment buildings in Schüpfheim LU.

    “The overall portfolio has shown a strong appreciation of CHF 33.8 million net due to the positive developments in new construction projects and marketing success,” the press release continues. The vacancy rate has also fallen from 4.17 to 3.34 percent.

    The investment group SPA Living + Europe, which was launched in 2020, also closed the first six months of this year successfully with a 4.4 percent return after the first transaction. The profit results from the purchase of five retirement and care properties in Germany.