Family homes are particularly in demand
Keystone / Alessandro Della Bella
For the fifth consecutive year, the Swiss housing vacancy rate has fallen to 1% – in other words, 99% of homes in Switzerland are occupied. The shortage of available housing is spread across the country, with some acute hotspots.
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According to a press release published Tuesday by the Federal Statistical Office, the vacancy rate fell by 0.08 percentage points in one year, from 1.08% to 1%. On June 1, 2025, the reference date, Switzerland had just over 48,000 vacant homes. In the country’s seven major regions, this represents nearly 3,600 fewer vacant homes than the previous year. This is the fifth consecutive annual decline.
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The drop in the number of available homes was most marked in canton Ticino, where the share of properties on the market, whether for rent or sale, fell from 2.08% to 1.92%. The Lake Geneva region followed with a decrease from 0.96% to 0.83%.
Faced with housing scarcity, residents of canton Vaud are no longer hesitating to move farther away to find accommodation, particularly in the Fribourg region of Vevey.
A housing shortage occurs when the proportion of vacant property drops below 2%. All French-speaking cantons are affected with the exception of the canton of Jura. Geneva has the lowest rate with only 0.34% of available housing. Next come Vaud (0.89%), Fribourg (1.11%), Bern (1.12%), Valais (1.18%), and Neuchâtel (1.82%).
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The Jura, with 3.03%, remains above the critical threshold, as does the canton of Solothurn with 2.05%. They are the only two Swiss cantons to still exceed 2%.
Nationally, Geneva remains the hardest-hit canton, followed by Zug (0.42%) and Zurich (0.48%). In total, 15 cantons have a rate below 1%, a sign of widespread tension in the housing market. The crisis is primarily affecting families, as three and four room apartments are the most in demand.
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Zurich: Welcome to the world capital of housing shortages!
Adapted from French by DeepL/mga
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