immo!nvest – Die Plattform für Standorte und Immobilien

Tag: Monitoring

  • SSF presents ESG guidelines for property investments

    SSF presents ESG guidelines for property investments

    SSF ‘s new publication provides guidance on how to integrate sustainability factors into direct property investments. According to a press release, the SSF Spotlight publication entitled Sustainable Real Estate Investments offers concrete instructions on how investment decisions can be harmonised with the ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) criteria for sustainable management. It is also intended to provide orientation in the diverse landscape of labels, benchmarking and monitoring tools. The publication was produced in collaboration with the ZHAW School of Management and Law at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences(ZHAW).

    SSF points out that residential and commercial buildings are responsible for almost a quarter of Switzerland’s CO2 emissions. And it emphasises that incorporating sustainability into real estate brings numerous benefits: higher rental income, lower vacancy rates, improved operational efficiency of real estate investments and portfolios and attractive economic positioning.

    “With Switzerland now legally committed to the net zero target, it is crucial for property investors to develop clear strategies to reduce the carbon footprint of their portfolio,” SSF CEO Sabine Döbeli is quoted as saying. In addition, the integration of ESG factors into risk analyses can reduce risks, increase resilience to environmental and market fluctuations and contribute to a more stable investment environment.

  • The forgotten solar hot water systems

    The forgotten solar hot water systems

    In Switzerland, about 6% of all apartment buildings have a solar hot water system (solar thermal) in operation. These are used to heat hot water in order to reduce the consumption of oil and gas. Most of these systems were installed about 10 years ago, when photovoltaics were much more expensive. However, in recent years they have been forgotten. Many owners and administrators discover the installations only by chance through a view of the property on Google Maps, when they analyse the roof for photovoltaic suitability.

    On average, solar hot water systems have 20 years of operation ahead of them, during which they can generate CO2-free heat and also significantly reduce utility costs thanks to fossil energy savings. Because nobody knows about the existence of many installations, one in five is defective. This means valuable solar heat is being wasted and fossil fuel heating systems are having to step in instead.

    Several cantons have already recognised the problem and launched awareness campaigns to make owners, caretakers and administrators aware of the issue. The free solartest.ch platform has been created for this purpose in collaboration with Energie Schweiz and Swissolar. This allows users to check whether their system is running correctly by simply entering the temperature values they have read.

    To avoid having to read the temperature values every week, Energie Zukunft Schweiz has developed the LORALARM monitoring system, which can be retrofitted.

    As part of a project with a large Swiss insurance group, 65 existing solar hot water systems were monitored, of which a total of 15 systems were found to be out of order. Minor repairs enabled systems worth CHF 1.5 million to be put back into operation within a very short time.
    The good time to find out if your solar thermal system is running is on a sunny winter’s day. This ensures that the defect will be producing sun-warmed water again by the time of the productive spring days from the beginning of March, after any repairs have been carried out.

  • Coronavirus: Federal Council presents a monitoring report on the business rents situation

    Coronavirus: Federal Council presents a monitoring report on the business rents situation

    The report Monitoring commercial rents comes to the following results:

    • Based on a structural analysis by Wüest Partner, there are around 390,000 business leases in Switzerland with a rental volume of an estimated two billion francs per month. Around CHF 900 million of this is for office space, CHF 500 million for trade and industry, CHF 400 million for retail space and CHF 200 million for hotel and restaurant use. In addition to the 390,000 leases, around 60 percent of the companies run their business in their own property. During the period of maximum restrictions between March 17 and April 26, 2020, around 113,000 tenancies were affected by the closings by the Federal Council. The cumulative rent of the commercial properties affected by closings amounts to 530 million francs per month. This corresponds to 27 percent of the rental volume.
    • A representative survey by gfs.bern came to the conclusion that the proportion of tenants who have difficulties paying their rent in connection with the mandatory closings has risen from 6 to 33 percent in the weeks of the lockdown. This is particularly true of western Switzerland and Ticino. The survey also showed that the majority of tenants (around 60%) sought relief solutions – and the majority have found them. Agreements were reached far more often than disagreements; for the tenant side the ratio of agreements to non-agreements is 3 to 2, for the landlord 9 to 1. The vast majority of the agreements came before the parliamentary decisions of June 2020. In almost three out of four cases, the agreements involved rent reductions.
    • The economic development so far points to a rapid and strong economic recovery. The number of company bankruptcies and the number of new requests in the statistics of the arbitration authorities are currently within the usual range or below the previous year's level.
    • An international comparison shows that most European countries – like Switzerland – rely on support measures to secure the liquidity of the businesses affected by closings. There were seldom interventions in terms of tenancy law, and if so, it was an extension of payment or notice periods. There are no statutory rent reductions in the eleven European countries examined.

    On the basis of these results, the Federal Council comes to the conclusion that there is currently little evidence of comprehensive and area-wide difficulties in the area of commercial rents. However, this does not rule out the possibility that there may be unsatisfactory constellations in individual cases. Depending on how the pandemic develops, the situation can quickly worsen.

    For this reason, the Federal Council is currently refraining from taking any measures (e.g. in the legislative area). However, it instructs the Federal Housing Office to continue the commercial rents working group and to discuss any support in the area of advice and information with the cantons. Because experience has shown that regional solutions are best suited to the local situation.