Fall in Swiss property prices accelerates

Much of the recent annual decline came in the first quarter of 2017. The largest drops in apartment prices in the first quarter of 2017 were in the southern Ticino region (-4.6%) and Alps (-4.2%), as the price declines recorded in the last three quarters of 2016 accelerated in these parts of Switzerland.

Annual decline in single family homes highest in Geneva

Single family home prices fared little better dropping 5.7% annually, and 3.9% in the first quarter of 2017 across Switzerland. Higher-end single family dwellings dropped most (-6.4%), followed by middle (-5.7%) and lower-end ones (-3.9%). The largest year-on-year decline in the price of single family dwellings was in the Lake Geneva region (-8.5%), followed by the Alps (-7.5%), the southern Ticino region (-7.4%), Jura (-6.3%), Central (-4.6%), the eastern region (-3.3%), Zurich (-3.2%), and Basel (3.1%).  The biggest quarterly price declines for single family homes were in the southern region (-4.9%), Basel (-4.6%) and Zurich (-4.5%), undoing gains made in Basel and Zurich in the second quarter of 2016. Over five years, prices of single family homes were up substantially in most regions, particularly in eastern Switzerland (+15.7%), Zurich (+10.1%), Central (+9.9%), the southern region (+8.0%) and Basel (7.1%). The only region down over this period was Lake Geneva (-4.3%), with a steeper decline experienced in the canton of Geneva (-14.3%) than in Vaud (-2.8%).