Rent or buy: Which is more worthwhile in Switzerland?

«Rent is money down the drain.» That statement is wrong. Nevertheless, buying is often the better option in Switzerland at the moment. Both are true, and the calculator on this page shows you why.

Whether it’s better to rent or buy in Switzerland isn’t determined by the monthly bill, but by your net worth after 10, 15 or 20 years. Factors to consider include the costs associated with buying a property, maintenance, capital appreciation and the money you invest as a tenant instead. Take an example from Zurich: rent of CHF 2,400 a month, purchase price of CHF 900,000, own funds of CHF 180,000. After 15 years, buying comes out around CHF 131,000 better. If the same flat is unrenovated, the figures are reversed: in that case, renting comes out around CHF 87,000 ahead.

Enter your own figures into the ‘rent or buy’ calculator below, whether it’s a flat or a house. You’ll see straight away which option comes out on top, from which year onwards, and what figure would tip the balance.

Rent or Buy Calculator Switzerland

How to read the result

At the very top is the conclusion: buying is better in the short term, renting is better in the short term, or they are almost equal financially, with the figure shown based on the chosen duration. Below that, it shows from which year the balance shifts and which factor has the greatest impact. This is the tipping point closest to your input.

• Per month today: Interest, maintenance and capital repayment compared to rent. Capital repayment is highlighted because it reduces your debt and therefore forms part of your assets.
• Here’s how your wealth grows: Two lines: one for buying, one for renting. If you hover your mouse or finger over the graph, you’ll see the figures for each year.
• It’s worth buying, as long as …: Four tiles showing the threshold values for rent, purchase price, mortgage interest rate and return on investment. If renting is currently ahead, they show what would need to change for buying to catch up.
• Bank Review: the minimum gross income required for the bank to finance the purchase in accordance with standard practice.
• View by year: Assets, expenses and mortgage for each year, presented in a table.

Under «Adjust assumptions», you can change the canton, maintenance costs, capital appreciation, rate of return, rent increases, selling costs and the interest rate after the fixed-rate mortgage expires. Each assumption has a default value with an explanation. You can share the link to the calculator. Your personal figures will not be sent along with it.

How the calculator works

Most ‘buy or rent’ calculators provide a snapshot: how much the flat costs this month, and how much the rent is. That doesn’t tell the whole story. Anyone who buys a property ties up their own funds and the associated purchase costs in the property. Anyone who rents can invest that same money elsewhere. What that money would earn elsewhere represents the owner’s opportunity cost. That is why the calculator compares the net worth, month by month:

• Same start: The buyer invests their own funds and the associated purchase costs in the property. The tenant invests exactly the same amount.
• Those who pay less save: If the rent is higher than the cost of the property, the buyer invests the difference. If the property is more expensive, the tenant invests the difference. Both parties receive the same return.
• Amortisation is wealth: The second mortgage will be paid off in 15 years, leaving two-thirds of the purchase price outstanding. This costs money every month, but reduces the debt.
• Net worth at the end: When buying: market value minus selling costs minus outstanding debt plus deposit; when renting: the deposit.
• Interest rate in two stages: Your mortgage rate for the first ten years, followed by a subsequent rate, because nobody knows what the renewal will cost.

The calculator deliberately does not calculate taxes. These depend heavily on the canton, your income and your family circumstances. You can find out what this means for your result further down under «What the calculator does not take into account».

The initial values in the calculator:

Assumption	Initial value	Justification
Hypozins 10-year fixed-rate	1.9 %	Average rate for new 10-year fixed-rate mortgages: September 2016 to August 2026 (SNB)
Interest from year 11 onwards	2.3 %	A shot from the same series, taken since December 2007
Maintenance	0.8 / 1.0 / 2.0 % per year	As good as new, average, in need of renovation. Rules of thumb from UBS, ZKB, VZ and Migros Bank
Increase in value	1.5 % per year	Deliberately cautious. Since 1988, house prices have risen by between 2.4 and 2.8 % per year, depending on the index, largely driven by falling interest rates. This is unlikely to happen again, and prices are high today
Return on invested capital	5 % per year	A broadly diversified portfolio with a high proportion of shares, taken from a long-term perspective. Swiss shares have yielded around 7.7 % per annum since 1926. Over a period of just a few years, this return is not a reliable indicator.
Rent increase	1.5 % per year	Inflation and the reference interest rate, in the long term
Costs of sales	2 %	Estate agents, solicitors and fees on subsequent sale
Incidental purchase costs	per canton	Property transfer tax, notary, land register and mortgage deed – see table below

You can see just how much mortgage interest rates fluctuate in the Low interest rates since 1990.

Renting or buying: which is cheaper?

In Switzerland, whether you should buy or rent a flat depends mainly on three things: mortgage rates, the condition of the property and how long you plan to stay. An example will make this clearer.

Example: Renting versus buying a flat in Zurich

A flat in Zurich for CHF 900,000. The same flat costs CHF 2,400 a month to rent. You have CHF 180,000 in own funds, which is 20 per cent. The ancillary purchase costs in Zurich amount to around CHF 3,240, as the canton does not levy any transfer tax. The mortgage is CHF 720,000.

Per month in the first year	Buy	Rent
Interest (1.9 % on CHF 720,000)	CHF 1,140
Maintenance (1 % of the value)	CHF 750
Amortisation of a second mortgage	CHF 667
Rent		CHF 2,400
Total	CHF 2,557	CHF 2,400
of which wealth accumulation	CHF 667	CHF 0

At first glance, buying is CHF 157 more expensive. However, excluding the mortgage repayments, owning the property costs just CHF 1,890 a month – which is CHF 510 less than the rent. The mortgage repayments aren’t money down the drain; they reduce your debt. Over 15 years, this amounts to:

After 15 years	Assets
Rent (deposit)	around CHF 390,000
Purchase (flat after sale, minus outstanding debt, plus deposit)	around CHF 520,000
Buy Vorsprung	around CHF 131,000

Buying comes out on top from the third year onwards. Before that, the ancillary costs of buying and the costs of selling eat into the benefit.

What turns the tide

The same flat, with one assumption changed in each case:

Assumption	After 15 years
Initial values as above	Buy around CHF 131,000 up front
Just 3 years instead of 15	financially almost the same (buying is around CHF 10,000 cheaper)
30 years instead of 15	Buy around CHF 300,000 up front
Unrefurbished property, 2 % maintenance	Rents around CHF 87,000 up front
No increase in value	Rents around CHF 71,000 higher
Capital appreciation 2.5 % (roughly as it has been since 1988)	Buy around CHF 291,000 up front
Rent CHF 1,800 instead of CHF 2,400	Rents around CHF 44,000 up front
Hypozins consistently 3 %	Rents around CHF 17,000 higher
Yield 7 % instead of 5 %	financially almost the same
The canton of Vaud rather than Zurich	They cost around CHF 58,000 up front, but only from year 7 onwards

The table also explains why earlier comparisons reached the opposite conclusion. In 2023, new 10-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged around 2.9 per cent. At that time, renting was the more cost-effective option in many local authorities, as noted in earlier versions of this article. With interest rates at 2 per cent, the picture has changed. The table below shows the relative costs of buying and renting in your local area: SRF’s property calculator. To work out your own figures, use the calculator above.

Two factors have the greatest impact: the return on the money invested and the increase in the property’s value. These cannot be predicted. With an expensive flat, it is often precisely this difference that determines which option comes out on top. So, under «Adjust assumptions», run through at least two scenarios: a conservative one with 0 % for capital appreciation and a historical one with 2.5 %. If ‘Buy’ or ‘Rent’ comes out on top in both, your result is robust.

Rule of thumb: When is it worth buying?

With the initial values entered into the calculator, there is a simple rule: It is worth buying if the annual rent is more than around 2.6 per cent of the purchase price. In other words: the purchase price must not exceed approximately 38 times the annual rent.

Purchase price	Own funds 20 %	It’s worth buying if your rent is
CHF 600,000	CHF 120,000	around CHF 1,300 a month
CHF 900,000	CHF 180,000	around CHF 1,950 a month
CHF 1,200,000	CHF 240,000	around CHF 2,600 a month
CHF 1,500,000	CHF 300,000	around CHF 3,250 a month

Here’s an even quicker way to compare: work out the mortgage interest plus 1 per cent of the purchase price per month. If the rent for a comparable flat is higher than that, there’s a strong case for buying. In the example, that works out at CHF 1,890 versus CHF 2,400.

This rule of thumb only applies using the following initial values: 15 years, 1.5 per cent annual appreciation, average condition. If you base your calculations on an unrenovated house, a shorter timeframe or a higher return, the threshold shifts significantly. That’s why the calculator displays the thresholds for your figures in the tiles. The same calculation applies to a house, but you should factor in higher maintenance costs in that case.

What the computer does not show

Every calculator simplifies things. These points have been deliberately omitted because they depend heavily on your canton and your circumstances. They can work both ways:

• Capital gains tax: If you sell the property at a profit, you’ll pay cantonal tax on it. This decreases the longer you’ve owned the property, but can still amount to several tens of thousands of francs after 15 years. If you buy another home to live in yourself, the tax is deferred. The calculator excludes this tax, which makes buying more attractive. For Zurich, you should factor it in using the Capital Gains Tax Calculator ...
• Taxes on investment accounts: You pay tax on dividends and interest as income, and on your investment portfolio as capital. The calculator omits this as well, which makes renting more favourable.
• Early sale: If you sell before your fixed-rate mortgage expires, the bank will usually charge an early repayment fee. Exception: the buyer takes over the mortgage, or you carry it over to your next property. Over a 3- or 5-year period, this can make all the difference.
• Discipline: The tenant only comes out ahead if they actually invest the money and do not sell it during a crisis. The buyer automatically saves money through amortisation.

The result is therefore not a forecast, but a fair comparison based on clear assumptions. The quickest way to see how much your decision depends on these assumptions is to change them in the calculator.

Imputed rental value to fall in 2029: What’s changing

On 28 September 2025, voters approved the abolition of the imputed rental value. The Federal Council will bring this into force on 1 January 2029. The following will then apply to owner-occupied residential property:

• You no longer pay tax on the imputed rental value, whether for your primary or secondary residence.
• You can no longer claim tax relief on interest on loans and maintenance costs.
• First-time buyers are entitled to a temporary tax deduction on mortgage interest: up to CHF 10,000 for married couples and up to CHF 5,000 for single people in the first year. The maximum amount decreases each year by 10 per cent of the initial value.
• Cantons are permitted to introduce a special tax on owner-occupied second homes.
• Under the direct federal tax system, tax relief for energy-saving measures and environmental protection will no longer apply. Anyone wishing to carry out renovation work and still claim tax relief must have the work completed by the end of 2028.

When it comes to the question of «rent or buy», this means that anyone with a large mortgage will lose the tax deduction on mortgage interest and is likely to pay more tax than they do today. Those with little debt are more likely to benefit. The calculator excludes tax and thus largely reflects the situation from 2029 onwards. Whether it will then be worth paying off the mortgage more quickly or investing the money is a matter for individual calculation. The difference between direct and indirect amortisation We’ll explain that separately.

Additional costs associated with a property purchase, by canton

You pay the additional purchase costs from your own funds, not through the mortgage. These consist of the transfer tax, the notary’s fees, the land registry fees and the mortgage deed. Depending on the canton, they range from around 0.3 per cent to over 4 per cent of the purchase price.

Example: Purchase price CHF 900,000, mortgage CHF 720,000, owner-occupied, first home.

Canton	Additional purchase costs of around
Aargau	CHF 7,740
Appenzell Ausserrhoden	CHF 13,140
Appenzell Innerrhoden	CHF 13,140
Basel-Landschaft	CHF 5,040
Basel-Stadt	CHF 5,940
Bern	CHF 6,840
Freiburg	CHF 22,500
Geneva	CHF 23,040
Glarus	CHF 6,660
Grisons	CHF 22,140
Law	CHF 23,220
Lucerne	CHF 17,640
Neuchâtel	CHF 28,080
Nidwalden	CHF 13,140
Obwalden	CHF 11,340
Schaffhausen	CHF 8,460
Schwyz	£2,520
Solothurn	CHF 5,040
St. Gallen	CHF 13,140
Ticino	CHF 19,800
Thurgau	CHF 13,140
Uri	CHF 5,040
Vaud	CHF 37,980
Wallis	CHF 23,040
Train	CHF 2,880
Zurich	CHF 3,240

The figures are indicative values for owner-occupied property, as at October 2026. Notary and land registry fees are estimated in many cantons; in Graubünden, Valais and Appenzell Ausserrhoden, they also depend on the municipality. Some cantons offer relief on the purchase of a first home: Basel-Landschaft and Solothurn exempt it from transfer tax, whilst Bern exempts the first CHF 800,000. The notary’s office will provide you with the exact costs.

Affordability: Can you afford it?

Just because it’s worth buying doesn’t mean the bank will provide the finance. It checks two things:

• Own funds: Usually 20 per cent of the purchase price, once the ancillary purchase costs have been paid. At least 10 per cent must come from sources other than the pension fund, such as savings, securities or a Pillar 3a account.
• Portability: A 5 per cent imputed interest rate on the mortgage, 1 per cent of the purchase price for ancillary costs, and the mortgage repayments must together amount to no more than about one third of your gross income.

In this example, this requires a gross income of around CHF 159,000. The ’Bank Check’ feature in the calculator shows you the figure based on your details. It is deliberately set well above your actual costs, as the bank checks whether you can still afford the house even if interest rates rise. The calculator checks whether this is enough for your dream property. Affordability calculator To be more precise: based on three criteria – the additional costs associated with buying a property in your canton and any shortfall in income or your own funds. The table below shows how much you can afford to spend on housing given your current salary: Rent-to-salary rule of thumb.

Pros and cons: renting vs. buying

Owning or renting is about more than just money. Whether you buy or rent also determines how much freedom you have in your living situation and how flexible you remain.

As the owner

• You’re free to design it however you like, as long as it complies with building regulations. A new kitchen, a sauna, a garden: it’s up to you.
• No notice of termination and no rent increase by the landlord.
• Amortisation builds up your assets. If the value rises, your equity grows through leverage, because you’re only funding 20 per cent yourself.
• You’re putting a lot of money into a single property in a single location. If its value falls, the leverage will hit you just as hard.
• You’ll have to pay for repairs, renovations and property tax yourself. The heating, roof and kitchen will all need attention at some point.
• Moving house is expensive: there are selling costs, often capital gains tax, and additional costs associated with the new purchase.

As a tenant

• You’ll remain flexible when changing jobs, starting a family or going through a break-up.
• If the heating breaks down, the landlord is responsible.
• Your money isn’t tied up in a single property, but is widely diversified, for example in a ETF Savings Plan. This reduces the risk of concentration.
• The rent may increase, for example in line with the reference interest rate or following a renovation.
• This benefit only works if you actually invest the difference. If you spend it, you won’t build up a fortune.

So rent isn’t money down the drain. You’re paying for a place to live and flexibility. The landlord pays interest, maintenance and opportunity costs – in other words, the return that their equity would have generated elsewhere.

Hire purchase in Switzerland

With rent-to-buy, you rent first and buy later. The tenant and the landlord agree on a fixed purchase price and a right to purchase. Part of the rent is deducted from the purchase price. This is rare in Switzerland. In most cases, a hire-purchase arrangement is agreed directly with the landlord, rather than through an advert.

Here’s an example calculation: You’re renting a house for CHF 2,800 a month. The agreement is for a purchase price of CHF 850,000 in five years’ time, with CHF 800 credited towards this each month. After five years, CHF 48,000 will have been credited. You will still owe CHF 802,000, meaning you’ll need less of your own money to cover this.

Here’s what you should bear in mind:

• A right of purchase must be recorded in a public deed. Once entered as a provisional entry in the land register, it remains valid for a maximum of ten years.
• Before signing, check with your bank whether it will accept the amount credited as equity and how it values the property.
• If you don’t end up buying, the deposit is usually forfeited. In that case, you’ll have paid an expensive rent.
• A fixed price is good when prices rise, and bad when they fall.

Buy and let out part of it

Renting out a granny flat or a room can make buying a property more affordable. The rental income reduces your housing costs. There are a few factors to take into account:

• Rental income is taxable income. For the part of the property that is let out, you can continue to deduct maintenance costs and a proportionate share of interest on the mortgage, even after 2029.
• Banks apply different methods when calculating rental income for affordability assessments, and often do not take the full amount into account. Make sure you ask before you buy.
• If you want to let out the whole flat at a later date, check your mortgage agreement and let the bank know. If you have withdrawn money from your pension fund, sort that out with them as well.
• As a landlord, you have certain obligations: drawing up a tenancy agreement, settling utility bills and rectifying defects.

The calculator does not take rental income into account. Calculate this separately and conservatively, allowing for vacancy rates and maintenance costs for the let portion.

Should you buy or rent a flat in later life?

Anyone buying at 55 or 60 is expecting a shorter timeframe. The shorter the timeframe, the greater the impact of ancillary purchase costs and selling costs. In the example, buying comes out ahead by around CHF 131,000 after 15 years; after three years, the financial outcome is almost the same.

Then there’s the bank. The second mortgage must be paid off by the time you retire at the latest, and from around the age of 50, the bank checks whether the mortgage will remain affordable alongside your pension. This often means paying off part of the mortgage before retirement. From 2029, the abolition of the notional rental value will also help: those with little debt will pay less tax than they do today.

It is often not the cost but the practicalities of daily life that make buying a home less appealing in old age: stairs, the garden and upkeep become more of a strain at 75. A barrier-free rented flat may then be the better choice, even if it costs more.

Conclusion: Rent or buy?

Given today’s low mortgage rates, buying in Switzerland is often the better option, provided you plan to stay for at least ten years and the property is in good condition. This applies to anyone who already meets the requirements for a deposit and can afford the mortgage.

The main reason is that interest and maintenance costs are often lower today than the rent for a comparable flat, and the mortgage repayments build up your wealth. The exceptions are properties that haven’t been renovated, short-term tenancies and expensive locations where the rent is low in relation to the purchase price. In such cases, renting often comes out on top, provided you actually invest the difference.

So buying rather than renting isn’t always the best option, but neither is renting rather than buying. That’s why you should base your decision on your own figures rather than on rules of thumb. If the result is close, buying a home is primarily a lifestyle choice. In that case, decide how you want to live. And before you buy, check with the Emergency Fund Calculator, whether you’ll still have any left over after the purchase. You can find more tools in the Overview of all calculators.

Model calculation excluding tax. No investment or financial advice is provided.

Frequently asked questions about renting or buying

Sources: SNB, interest rates on new mortgage loans, SNB, property prices, FTA, Transfer Tax and cantonal legislation, Change to the imputed rental value system with effect from 1 January 2029, LUKB, First-time buyer’s tax relief, Guidelines of the Swiss Bankers’ Association on mortgage financing. As at October 2026.