immo!nvest – Die Plattform für Standorte und Immobilien

Tag: Wohnung

  • Ground-breaking ceremony for Bern’s first PlusEnergy neighbourhood

    Ground-breaking ceremony for Bern’s first PlusEnergy neighbourhood

    Today’s ground-breaking ceremony symbolically marked the start of the PlusEnergy Aarerain neighbourhood in Worblaufen. Following an extensive development phase, preparations for the construction site began in September 2023.

    The new development will offer 189 flats for up to 400 residents. In addition to the flats, a daycare centre and studio spaces are also planned on the ground floors, which will enliven the neighbourhood square. The project’s slope path will provide barrier-free access to the Aare area and the municipality of Ittigen’s new leisure and water sports centre. “Good things come to those who wait,” is a well-known saying,” says a delighted Marco Rupp, President of the municipality. “The Aarerain project completes the reorganisation of the Aare area in Worblaufen and fits in perfectly with our sustainable basic ideas of urban development.”

    PlusEnergy neighbourhood produces energy surplus
    Over the course of the year, the new housing estate will produce more energy than it consumes in accordance with the PlusEnergy neighbourhood energy standard based on weighted criteria. This will be achieved through the consistent use of photovoltaics on the roofs and façades of the six to eight-storey buildings. The PV panels on the façades will be realised in a green-blue colour and reflect the play of colours of the Aare and the surrounding area. Heat is generated by means of geothermal probes; the geothermal probes are regenerated in summer by cooling the flats via the underfloor heating.

    The “PlusEnergy neighbourhood” energy standard launched by the Swiss capital region promotes sustainable development in the building sector with a simple and clear definition, thereby contributing to the implementation of the Swiss government’s Energy Strategy 2050. The cantons and municipalities are working together with renowned infrastructure companies and investors. Cantonal Councillor Christoph Ammann adds: “PlusEnergy neighbourhoods enable sustainable development – without compromising on living comfort. I am delighted when such flagship projects shine beyond the capital region.”

    Close to nature and sustainable
    However, the development will not only score points in terms of its positive energy balance. The sustainable project is characterised by attractive flat layouts, a natural living environment with a view of the Aare and the greatest possible preservation of the green spaces on the banks of the Aare. Keeping the green spaces free is made possible by the compact construction of the site in the eastern part of the plot. Thanks to this skilful urban planning in the sense of economical use of the land, a good half of the plot remains undeveloped and natural. The car-free neighbourhood square between the buildings offers a high quality of stay and counteracts overheating in summer with its differentiated paving and greenery.

    The symbolic ground-breaking ceremony on 9 April 2024 marked the official start of the development of the Aarerain PlusEnergy district in Worblaufen, a project by Losinger Marazzi in collaboration with the CPV/CAP Coop pension fund and the municipality of Ittigen. The architecture was designed by Fischer Architekten AG. This ultra-modern residential development is scheduled for completion at the end of 2026 and will not only offer 189 flats, but also communal facilities such as a daycare centre and studios to enliven the neighbourhood.

  • HKG remodels traditional Aarau garage

    HKG remodels traditional Aarau garage

    The engineering and consulting firm Herzog Kull Group Holding AG (HKG) is converting the Aarhof Garage in Aarau into a modern office building and will also use it itself, according to a press release. The garage was built in 1950 and will meet modern building standards following the renovation, according to the HKG press release. 45 office workstations are to be created on the ground floor. The project is being realised by HKG together with the Aarau architectural firm Schneider & Schneider. In addition to the offices, there will also be meeting rooms, a break room and a kitchen.

    In its press release, HKG refers to a report in the “Aargauer Zeitung” newspaper, according to which the costs will amount to CHF 3.2 million. Work on the conversion is scheduled to begin in 2024, probably in late summer. The refurbishment, conversions and new buildings on the upper floor should be completed by mid-September 2025.

    According to HKG, three two-and-a-half-room loft flats with high ceilings will be built on the upper floor. As the area around the Traditionsgarage was traditionally a green spot in Aarau, a green space is to be created again in memory of the historic gardens, according to the press release.

    Founded in Aarau in 1978, HKG specialises in innovative building technology ranging from electricity planning to building automation. HKG also specialises in renewable energies such as photovoltaics.

    In addition to its headquarters in Aarau, HKG has offices in Schlieren ZH, Baden, Bern, Chur GR, Crissier VD, Lucerne, Olten SO, Pratteln BL, Rotkreuz ZG, St.Gallen and Vilters SG. HKG employs around 200 permanent staff, including 89 with higher technical qualifications, 65 with technical qualifications, 23 commercial and administrative staff and 23 apprentices.

  • Future developments in the Swiss property market

    Future developments in the Swiss property market

    Switzerland’s permanent resident population will break the 9 million barrier in the first half of 2024. The “magic” 10 million mark should then be reached by the mid-2030s. This additional million is likely to set new records: Never before has the resident population increased so quickly. Never before has a million-strong increase been driven so strongly by international migration and at the same time accompanied by so little construction activity.

    The creation of more than enough living space and a massive expansion of the transport infrastructure have been responsible for the fact that rents have risen significantly less than wages since Switzerland’s 5 million population in 1955. What has been true over the last 70 years – falling housing costs, greater consumption of space per person and more comfortable living – is now likely to be a thing of the past. This is because the cumulative shortfall of at least 150,000 flats by 2034 due to the slowdown in construction activity is likely to keep the consumption of living space stable.

    Prices and rents outpace wage growth
    Rents are therefore likely to rise faster than incomes in the coming years. Rents on offer could increase by a total of 25 to 30 per cent in real terms by the mid-2030s – comparable to the trend between 2002 and 2012. In contrast to the last 70 years, rents in city centres are also likely to rise more strongly than in the periphery due to the high level of immigration.

    Residential property prices – both for owner-occupied homes and apartment blocks – are also expected to rise faster than incomes, with interest rates remaining moderate overall. On the one hand, prime locations will remain in disproportionately high demand as a result of growth. On the other hand, the “suburbs” of the major centres will increasingly expand into the previously extended agglomerations, which will also increase the willingness to pay there. Residential property therefore has the potential to match or even exceed past increases in value.

    Golden age with reservations
    However, dreams of high increases in value due to rising rents could quickly turn out to be an illusion. If the housing situation of many households deteriorates, politicians could burden the market with additional regulations. In such a scenario, construction activity could fall even further and households would have to move even closer together. The long-term losers would also be the building fabric and sustainability due to a lack of incentives for comprehensive and energy-efficient renovations.

  • Raiffeisen has bad news

    Raiffeisen has bad news

    The increase in rents in Switzerland is likely to continue to gain momentum. The increases following the hike in the reference interest rate at the beginning of June will take effect at the beginning of October. But that was just the beginning, according to a study by Raiffeisen on Thursday.

    There is “fire in the roof” for rents, the real estate experts write. The next increases in the reference interest rate are already in sight. “The reference interest rate is expected to rise to 1.75 per cent in December. This would mean that the majority of Swiss tenants would be threatened with another rent increase on 1 April 2024. According to the interest rate scenario, a further increase would then only be possible at the end of 2024 or beginning of 2025.

    Two-thirds affected in second round
    While in the current round of increases, it is estimated that just under half of all tenants are potentially affected, after the second reference interest rate increase, there should be potential for increases in around two-thirds of all tenancies, it continues.

    And the increases will be clearly above the planned 3 per cent. The landlords also pass on part of the accumulated inflation to the tenants and claim the general cost increases. An exact forecast is fraught with great uncertainty in the absence of experience with such a situation. But the experts expect that in the course of the next year, with the second increase in the reference interest rate, the rent increase throughout Switzerland is likely to climb to 8 per cent at times.

    But it is not only the increases that are driving rents. The prerequisite for landlords being able to push them through at all is above all the continued high demand and the scarce supply. “The demand for rental flats continues to increase strongly in rapid steps due to dynamically growing immigration,” the study states.

    Recordnetimmigration
    The experts believe it is possible that net immigration this year will even break the previous recordbalance of2008. “By May 2023, the net migration of the foreign resident population in Switzerland was a quarter higher than in the comparable period of the previous year.” And this does not include the Ukrainian refugees in the country, who are often supported by the municipalities in their search for housing on the open market.

    In addition, there are other effects, such as a high number of new households or the influence of the trend towards home offices. This increases the demands on the housing situation.

    No improvement in supply in sight
    The rental housing market is increasingly drying up. Vacancy rates are low, especially in urban centres, and asking rents are rising.

    There are hardly any signs of supply-side relief of the housing shortage. Although the number of building applications submitted for flats has at least stabilised in recent quarters, the urgently needed construction offensive is still a long time coming. “The thin project pipeline is far from sufficient to satisfy the current strong additional demand for housing.

    Subsidies for housing construction or individual subsidies
    In this context, the Raiffeisen experts also take a critical look at the demands for stronger subsidies for non-profit housing construction. This also costs a lot of money, they say, and needy tenants do not always live in municipal or cooperative housing. According to the authors of the study, about half of the residents of cooperative flats have such a high income that they do not need the subsidies.

    The strong reduction in the price of these flats leads to certain false incentives. Households that benefit from these low rents have little interest in leaving this flat later, even if their living conditions change. Raiffeisen writes that the question is whether subject-specific support – i.e. direct support for households in need – would not ultimately achieve more desirable results.

  • Swiss Prime Quartier Riverside is ready for occupancy

    Swiss Prime Quartier Riverside is ready for occupancy

    In Zuchwil, the new residential and work area Riverside is now ready for occupancy. According to a press release , the first tenants will move into the Widi Huus and Sulzer Huus in October. The project of the Swiss Prime Investment Foundation is characterized by modern energy supply and traffic management as well as recreational opportunities. It was also developed by the Swiss Prime Investment Foundation in Olten as a “living space”. As a location in the country with all the amenities of an urban place. The new Riverside district combines living and working. The Aare in turn connects nature with the city. The quarter has direct access to the river.

    According to Jérôme Baumann, President of the Board of Trustees of the Swiss Prime Investment Foundation, “120 apartments have already been rented. Only a few are available. ”The apartments offer a lot of quality of life. The Solothurn architect Benedikt Graf from gsj architects and agps architecture was quoted as saying that the choice of materials was "extremely careful". The heat generation for heating and water takes place sustainably via a groundwater heat pump. Natural cooling is in operation in summer.

    All apartments are designed according to the guidelines of Procap Switzerland and are wheelchair accessible. There are individual charging stations for e-vehicles at the visitor parking spaces. The parking spaces in the underground car park can also be equipped with a charging station. All five houses of the first stage should be occupied by autumn 2022.

  • Fewer apartments are empty

    Fewer apartments are empty

    As of June 1, 2021, Switzerland had a total of 71,365 vacant apartments, including single-family houses, according to the Federal Statistical Office ( FSO ) in a message . Compared to the previous year, this corresponds to a decrease of 9.5 percent. The corresponding vacancy rate fell in the same period by 0.18 percentage points to 1.54 percent. It fell for the first time in twelve years, according to the announcement.

    The FSO analysts observed a decline in vacant apartments in six of the seven major regions. Only in the greater Ticino area did the vacancy rate rise by 0.12 percentage points to 2.83 percent. Within the cantons, the analysts found the lowest vacancy rates in Zug (0.34 percent), Geneva (0.51 percent) and Zurich (0.72 percent). The highest vacancy rates were observed in the cantons of Solothurn (3.15 percent), Ticino (2.83 percent) and Appenzell Innerrhoden (2.59 percent).

    The analysts have noted a particularly high decline in vacancies for new apartments and single-family homes. As of the reporting date, 7,066 vacant properties were offered for long-term rent or for sale across Switzerland, 24.2 percent fewer than in the previous year. The number of vacant single-family houses offered for long-term rent or purchase decreased by 18.8 percent to 5940 properties in the same period.

  • Rental prices drop slightly in March

    Rental prices drop slightly in March

    The prices for rents fell in March compared to the previous month by 0.4 percent. This short-term development is only reflected in the national averages. In the most expensive and densely populated regions, rents rose in March, according to the latest data from the Swiss Real Estate Offer Index. In the long term, too, prices have increased on average.

    Tenants in the Lake Geneva region had to pay 0.2 percent more in March, and even 0.9 percent in the greater Zurich region. According to a press release, rents in north-western Switzerland also rose by 0.3 percent, in eastern Switzerland by 0.2 percent and in Ticino by 1.9 percent. In Central Switzerland, on the other hand, rents fell by 1.2 percent. Over the year as a whole, rental prices rose by an average of 0.6 percent for the country.

    In the case of home ownership, prices have also developed differently, depending on the type of residence. While those interested in condominiums benefited from an average of 0.4 percent lower prices in March, buyers of single-family homes had to add 1 percent.

    In the past twelve months, home prices even rose by a record 7.2 percent. While the square meter cost 6398 francs in March 2020, it was 6857 francs in March of this year.

    In the case of condominiums, the plus of 3 percent was somewhat more moderate. Here, the price per square meter rose from 7,366 francs in March 2020 to 7,587 francs in March 2021.

    The data of the Swiss Real Estate Offer Index is created in real time on the basis of advertisements on the real estate platform ImmoScout24 and in cooperation with the real estate consultancy IAZI AG .