Swiss Housing Market Flashcards
Structure and Challenges - PD Dr. Frank Bodmer
What are the two peculiarities (Eigenheiten) of real estate markets?
1 limited supply of land
- new land is the exception
- building land has to be obtained by using agricultural land or forests
2 RE asset that provides a service to a costumer
- RE held by investors, which expect an adequate ROI
- dwellings used by hh (shelter basic need)
Which two markets exists according to Bodmer in RE?
- Asset market
- Space market
Which are the fundamental challenge for the Swiss housing market?
1 Providing a growing population with affordable housing of good quality
while
2 protecting the natural environment
(both are political goals)
Which are the 5 goals for public policy?
- sufficient supply
- affordable prices and rents
- limitation of land use
- promotion of private ownership
- financial stability
How does the market mechanism works?
- supply and demand
- in the most liberal version, state just:
-> is providing a secure legal environment
-> stable economic conditions
What kind of State interventions exists in RE?
1 Rules and limitations for land use and buildings
2 Intervention in segments of the housing markets
- rental market
- home ownership
- foreign ownership
- touristic use
3 Public supply
4 income support for lower income households
What kind of tradeoffs can appear by try to reach a goal in RE?
- Limiting land use for housing: protects the natural environment -> reduces supply of building land -> higher prices for building land and for housing
- Rent regulation: protects rentners but might hinder supply for new housing or segmentation of the market -> lower rent for tenants -> higher rents for many hh looking for new housing
- Promoting home-ownership reduces the average cost of housing and increases demand.
How many cantons and municipalities does Switzerland have?
26 cantons
2’000 municipalities
Which are the largest cities in Switzerland?
Zürich, Geneva, Basel, Lausanne and Bern
What are the challenges of urban sprawl (Zersiedelung)?
- high land use, high infrastructure requirements, high energy use
- aesthetically unsatisfactory
- single-family houses still preferred
- in practise, most hh rent appartments
Can you tell me some kind of land use in CH?
- agricultural area
- forest area
- uproductive area
- settlement area (Bauland)
- residential area
Which kind of land use did increase strongly at the cost of another kind of landuse?
(aggricultural, forest area, unproductive area, settlement area, residential area)
settlement area at cost of aggricultural land
dwellings vs. households
The difference of dwellings and households is made up of second homes (= dwellings for the non-resident population and tourist accommodation).
How did the m2 per person in CH evolve? and how many m2 is it currently?
- increased, but after year 2000 only slightly
- ca. 45m2
There are 3 figures:
- living spaces
- gdp
- population
Which of these three had the biggest growth?
living spaces
Market of building land:
why is the supply of land more or less limited?
due to zoning regulation