Switzerland’s benchmark mortgage reference rate, a key figure used to determine rents under existing leases, remained unchanged at 1.5% in June, according to the latest update from the Federal Housing Office (FHO), published on 2 June 2025.
The rate was last cut by 25 basis points in March 2025, prompting a wave of rent reduction requests from tenants—eligible to take effect starting in July.
Introduced in 2008, the reference rate is calculated based on the average mortgage rates offered by Swiss banks, rounded to the nearest quarter percentage point. It serves as the national standard for adjusting rents in response to interest rate movements.
A rise of 0.25 percentage points allows landlords to increase rents by up to 3%, provided the lease is indexed to the previous reference rate. Conversely, a drop of the same magnitude entitles tenants to request a rent reduction of 2.91%.
For now, however, both tenants and landlords will have to sit tight. With the rate holding steady, no automatic rent adjustments are triggered—at least until the next review.
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