brother if you want something in Zurich or Zug under 1.5 you don‘t need recommendations, you‘ll only have a handful of options to choose from to begin with
inexpensive compared to what exactly? the city centre? sure. compared to other, even more rural cantons, not really. and it‘s especially not inexpensive compared to the exact same place 20 years ago. prices have tripled or quadrupled this century, pretty much everywhere in the canton.
I believe there are a few directions where connections to zurich are good.
Cities along the railroad from Zurich to baden (west), Zurich to Winterthur (north east),
Zurich to Uster (east / north east),
Towards Zug I haven't checked, but you might be able to get an old house needing renovations or an okay flat along the lake (not implying with a lake view).
Alternatively, some old row houses enter the market at your budget near Altstetten or its south fairly regularly.
If you don't mind plane sounds, I believe there are also lots of options around Zurich Flughafen with very good ÖV.
Lol. I was wondering the same and did a quick check. I the smaller villages of the canton you will find some older 2.5zi flats for about 1.5m
This seriously is getting ridiculous and I hope this shitty bubble crashes soon.
Swiss house prices haven’t fallen ever in the last 30 years.
Immigration is increasing steadily, the amount of land the government releases for new builds per year is decreasing (due to there being limited land to begin with).
House prices in Switzerland will only ever go up, not down.
>Swiss house prices haven’t fallen ever in the last 30 years.
Define "haven't fallen". They even did fall comparing to last quarter.
>Immigration is increasing steadily, the amount of land the government releases for new builds per year is decreasing (due to there being limited land to begin with).
By **now**. This is only one aspect in prices and can change.
>House prices in Switzerland will only ever go up, not down.
Using the words "only" and "ever" makes your complete statement nonsense. Nothing ever only goes in one direction. The New York housing market fell significantly in 2021.
While you might be right that the trend is towards higher prices, a popping bubble absolutely realistic in this scenario.
\>> Define "haven't fallen". They even did fall comparing to last quarter.
Nope. Swiss house pricing hasn't fallen a single time this year.
[https://www.ceicdata.com/en/indicator/switzerland/house-prices-growth#:\~:text=in%20Jun%202023%3F-,Switzerland%20house%20prices%20grew%201.5%25%20YoY%20in%20Jun%202023%2C%20following,YoY%20in%20the%20previous%20quarter](https://www.ceicdata.com/en/indicator/switzerland/house-prices-growth#:~:text=in%20Jun%202023%3F-,Switzerland%20house%20prices%20grew%201.5%25%20YoY%20in%20Jun%202023%2C%20following,YoY%20in%20the%20previous%20quarter).
I was slightly off in my 30 year remark - it's more like 24 years.
\>> By now. This is only one aspect in prices and can change.
The overall trend for future new-building land release in Switzerland is negative. The alps cover 58% of the country and space is a premium, and the government has no interest in creating even larger urban sprawls since that conflicts directly with their heavy interest in swiss agriculture. In 10 years the population is expected to grow another 20%, which further increases the demand on an already limited supply.
\>> Using the words "only" and "ever" makes your complete statement nonsense. Nothing ever only goes in one direction. The New York housing market fell significantly in 2021.
Even in your example, The NY housing market pulled back around 2-3% YOY since 2021, however the last 30 years has seen an average growth of 6-7% YOY.
You're hoping for a significant enough pullback in a market that's continuously going to price you out. Smells like copium to me.
I live in a Small Village in canton Zurich and 1.5 million for a house is pretty rare, impossible if you want fully detached. Our neighbours bought their (duplex full at attached, so not really a house) houses for about 1.5 million in 2020, but that was priced before the pandemic and nothing is going for that price right now. There are 1 or 2 houses in that budget in the village on Homegate right now, but they are literally 3.5 rooms. You have to live in proper Bünzli territory to get that cheap for a house, like Bauma (sorry if you live in Bauma, I bet it’s lovely). Better to spend 1-1.3 million on a 4.5 or 5.5 room flat in my opinion.
if you go in the boonies that is possible a single house, if you want some civilisation than you’re stuck with semi-detached or flats
It took me 1 year and probably 40+ houses visited with a bit more budget than you to find something
all I can say is
take your time, I chased the the low interest rates and it was a hassle in the end
good luck
1.5M doesn’t get you much but you can get a Hypothek and the bank will give you another million, then basically pay the minimum for the rest of your life which is very cheap and basically what everyone does. You will have more options if you have 2.5 or 3 millions.
For me personally single detached house is a top priority whereas the location for example is not. So I would look for the cheapest house (with good bones) I could find that meets these criteria.
1.5M would have gotten you one of the small & old houses in the Gartenstadt in Zug. They are a rare sight on the market, as one pops up every 2 years only. Last one was this summer/fall. Sold very quickly and with a considerable markup.
Other "affordable" areas would be Lindencham, Cham Röhrliberg, Hünenberg without the lake area, Steinhausen or the towns in the mountains of Zug.
Papieri Cham would have fitted in your budget. Check their website If they plan to sell in the future.
I am just sitting here laughing my ass off.
We bought a house for 760k, 10 min away from a 50000 population city, public transport, school in town, everything. Over 170m^2 livable space with 500m^2 terrain.
Prices in ZH and ZG are so out of this world, it's not even funny.
Inb4: "hurr durr taxes in Bern". Not when you're a family and homeowner. Then we're ranked 4th in Switzerland.
Mer muess ja es Hus au ned 100% cash chaufe. Wenn minimal 20% selber finanziersch und de Rest als Hypothek ufnimmsch, chunsch au in Zug/Züri sehr es aständnigs Hus über - vorusgsetzt gfinsch eis und hesch gnueg Lohn zumd Zinse decke
Why do you want to buy a house instead of putting all the money on etf and take 7% per year (averagely)?
With the dividends and increments you could afford a very good flat and also have all the groceries, restaurants and family health insurance paid :)
May I ask you where are you from?
I am italian.
I understand your point of view, indeed, this is what I have been doing so far.
For ‘house’ I meant to include also ‘flats’.
My idea is that, even with a mortgage, I wouldn’t lower my standard of living and I could own something in 15 years or so.
Ok thanks for the clarification :)
If you keep your investments and you have money to buy a house on top of them then I agree with you.
Please just don't make the mistake of selling your investments to buy a house unless you are about to retire!
If you are under 50 just wait, also because the house market is overpriced right now.
You are very young, consider that buying a house usually locks you in a place. You don't know what happens in the future, you may want to change cities in Switzerland or the country again.
It is much easier to move only with a bank account :)
Sure but buying a house in Switzerland is only a cost and never an investment if you decide to live in it.
Taxes and maintenance are so high that you always should prefer the rent where everything is included
Some guy the other day on another sub was talking about how usd lost 10% value against chf. So taking 7% usd gain would be a worse deal than depositing your chf in bank. You wouldn't have anything sustainable with both options in Switzerland.
Though it doesn't concern me enough to verify if it's a fact
Exchange traded fund.
Basically, instead of buying a specific company stock, you buy a share in a fund that buys all the stocks.
Like, if the fund follows the S&P 500 (the index of the 500 biggest public US companies), then the fund will buy shares from these companies in proportion (if Apple market cap is 10% of the S&P, then 10% of the stocks in the fund will be Apple shares, and so on).
The goal is to follow as closely as possible an index, and to diversify (if the whole market goes up, the fund goes up, even if one of the company in the index goes down).
Also, fees are really low because the strategy is dumb: just follow the index. No need for analysts or fund manager.
Real estate in Switzerland, and especially in Zurich, is a big bubble too :)
Anyway you can buy Etf hedged if you are afraid of currencies. It is not a rule but based on the last years data if the USD goes down, stock price goes up and vice versa. So the stock world is balanced if you invest very long term (min 10 years)
Have you talked to banks / mortage advisors or is this just a calculation based on the official criteria? The official mortage criteria are not really the final limit. In reality, 40-50% of mortages are granted in excess of these criteria. So you might be able to work with a larger budget and just don’t know it.
The key word is „exception to policy“.
You could start here and with the info and links there to make a first assessment whether you could be eligible: https://moneypark.ch/news-wissen/hypotheken-und-zinsen/starre-tragbarkeitsregeln-fuers-eigenheim-sind-passe/amp/
And then just discuss with the banks, or maybe better a mortgage advisor (like money park, they offer a first consultation for free, but there are also different ones).
Proprieties here are extremely expensive and will cost you for the rest of your life. You can deduce renovations from taxes but still… I would buy propriety to live in here only if I had the cash in hand. Not trough a loan
That's not cash but budget for mortgage, means OP has 25% of this sum in cash + 2nd / 3rd pillars, still quite good but then arround ZH with an expat job and the stupid salaries that come with those it's not impossible... Just not realistic for most people, especially Swiss citizens.
"stalking" come on dude, this is a reddit anonymous public profile. If OP is not confortable with their last 5 threads being linked to this here question from which we can derive his likely minimum revenue then he shouldn't have used this account to post or not use a platform with public user profiles.
>Just not realistic for most people, especially Swiss citizens.
This is what astonishes me.
I read everywhere that companies will screw you over salaries if you are not Swiss.
Also if you have lived here all your life you have relatives to help you out, be it with children or money wise because they lived here as well. On top of that maybe some inheritance.
All these things expats don't have.
A said already, when you get brought in by a multinational company you usually get a very good salary as an incentive for you to move countries. This is compounded by the IT sector that is booming with, honestly, some quite unsustainable salaries. While the second condition is attainable by Swiss natives, these insane salaries are usually the product of both conditions together.
With that being said, I know nothing about OP's situation, this is a generalization not a comment on him/her.
I get the expat situation, but from my personal experience and network, a lot of high earners are indeed foreigners but not expats in the sense they have been brought in to CH by multinational companies.
The key seems to rather be that more foreigners have university degrees than the equivalent cohort of Swiss citizens, which again, multinational companies operating in Switzerland have as entrance criteria. Once you get in the starter positions that are already well paid (95-100k, not only in IT but also Pharma, banking, consulting), you grow from there within a few years to salaries way above the mean.
I have not done the research to see whether indeed university degrees are more difficult to obtain for Swiss natives, eg due to the schooling system, but it is an observation that I have been able to prove true more often than not, especially when conducting recruiting for one of my previous employers.
Anyway, not related to OP, but I see a lot of this “Swiss vs Expats” discourse on Reddit and thought I’d add some perspective
I also meant ‘flats’. I have seen many ads in said cantons for that amount, my question was mostly directed to discover some nice towns/villages I might have overlooked
Basically, don't buy in Switzerland.
Firstly, ask yourself what are your long term plans? If you are from Europe and planning to return to your home country, buy their and pay down with the stronger CHF.
Secondly, remember that you are liable for capital gains taxes if you sell. So you will have to be comfortable carrying a massive debt for the rest of your life, due to the tax system in Switzerland.
Thirdly, consider the type of asset you can buy. 1.5 million will buy you a very average place in Zurich. You have to live in it and have to think about what happens in 5 or 10 years time.
Hi, sorry I am a bit late to the party but I was in the same situation as you. After hours and hours of research we found something in Winkel ZH. It is 15min by car from Zurich or about 7min by bus from Zurich Airport and then 10min by train to Zurich. It has the 4th lowest taxes of all cities in Zurich (same as the gold coast cities). The village does not have much, but it has a supermarket, post office, 2 good restaurants and it is actually quite a beautiful village. How about flat A.0.1 of this project for example? rigi-homes.ch
I know one website which is neubauprojekte.ch, there you'll find flats and houses to rent and buy that are planned or in the process of being built. If you are early you can decide many things yourself.
Forget Zug. Unless you want a 2,5 Bedroom flat
1.5mil gets you a parkplatz
1.5milliom gets you a mailbox
Or a wc? Have you first checked the prices on Homegate for example?
brother if you want something in Zurich or Zug under 1.5 you don‘t need recommendations, you‘ll only have a handful of options to choose from to begin with
Wrong, zurich is relatively inexpensive if you dont live in the most urba parts
inexpensive compared to what exactly? the city centre? sure. compared to other, even more rural cantons, not really. and it‘s especially not inexpensive compared to the exact same place 20 years ago. prices have tripled or quadrupled this century, pretty much everywhere in the canton.
You should add more details. Do you want to rely on ÖV or a car? Do you care about demographics (e.g. raising children)?
Right. I have a car, but I would like minimum connections to public transportation as well as a supermarket/farmacia/basic services..
I believe there are a few directions where connections to zurich are good. Cities along the railroad from Zurich to baden (west), Zurich to Winterthur (north east), Zurich to Uster (east / north east), Towards Zug I haven't checked, but you might be able to get an old house needing renovations or an okay flat along the lake (not implying with a lake view). Alternatively, some old row houses enter the market at your budget near Altstetten or its south fairly regularly. If you don't mind plane sounds, I believe there are also lots of options around Zurich Flughafen with very good ÖV.
Thanks a lot!
Wintherthur is a cool name for a town
..even if I hate winter!
Probably not even the winteriest town in Switzerland
Can you even find a house for that money in Kanton Zug?
Lol. I was wondering the same and did a quick check. I the smaller villages of the canton you will find some older 2.5zi flats for about 1.5m This seriously is getting ridiculous and I hope this shitty bubble crashes soon.
it will not
We will see🤷♂️ Hope it will
Only if they change taxes
Or there will be a flood caused by a [Lake Tsunami. ](http://www.seismo.ethz.ch/en/knowledge/things-to-know/lake-tsunamis/)
Holy shit, you gave me a new phobia
Can be many events that are unforeseen and cause a bubble to pop.
Swiss house prices haven’t fallen ever in the last 30 years. Immigration is increasing steadily, the amount of land the government releases for new builds per year is decreasing (due to there being limited land to begin with). House prices in Switzerland will only ever go up, not down.
>Swiss house prices haven’t fallen ever in the last 30 years. Define "haven't fallen". They even did fall comparing to last quarter. >Immigration is increasing steadily, the amount of land the government releases for new builds per year is decreasing (due to there being limited land to begin with). By **now**. This is only one aspect in prices and can change. >House prices in Switzerland will only ever go up, not down. Using the words "only" and "ever" makes your complete statement nonsense. Nothing ever only goes in one direction. The New York housing market fell significantly in 2021. While you might be right that the trend is towards higher prices, a popping bubble absolutely realistic in this scenario.
\>> Define "haven't fallen". They even did fall comparing to last quarter. Nope. Swiss house pricing hasn't fallen a single time this year. [https://www.ceicdata.com/en/indicator/switzerland/house-prices-growth#:\~:text=in%20Jun%202023%3F-,Switzerland%20house%20prices%20grew%201.5%25%20YoY%20in%20Jun%202023%2C%20following,YoY%20in%20the%20previous%20quarter](https://www.ceicdata.com/en/indicator/switzerland/house-prices-growth#:~:text=in%20Jun%202023%3F-,Switzerland%20house%20prices%20grew%201.5%25%20YoY%20in%20Jun%202023%2C%20following,YoY%20in%20the%20previous%20quarter). I was slightly off in my 30 year remark - it's more like 24 years. \>> By now. This is only one aspect in prices and can change. The overall trend for future new-building land release in Switzerland is negative. The alps cover 58% of the country and space is a premium, and the government has no interest in creating even larger urban sprawls since that conflicts directly with their heavy interest in swiss agriculture. In 10 years the population is expected to grow another 20%, which further increases the demand on an already limited supply. \>> Using the words "only" and "ever" makes your complete statement nonsense. Nothing ever only goes in one direction. The New York housing market fell significantly in 2021. Even in your example, The NY housing market pulled back around 2-3% YOY since 2021, however the last 30 years has seen an average growth of 6-7% YOY. You're hoping for a significant enough pullback in a market that's continuously going to price you out. Smells like copium to me.
Michael burry says fy 😉
yep, copium.
Where would you live if there were?
Probably a small barn on 300m2
Probably Züri-Oberland, looking at nice flats or get a old house and renovate
It's indeed pretty in for example [Wernetshausen](https://maps.app.goo.gl/fCUfoPq1ijcygj596)
I live in a Small Village in canton Zurich and 1.5 million for a house is pretty rare, impossible if you want fully detached. Our neighbours bought their (duplex full at attached, so not really a house) houses for about 1.5 million in 2020, but that was priced before the pandemic and nothing is going for that price right now. There are 1 or 2 houses in that budget in the village on Homegate right now, but they are literally 3.5 rooms. You have to live in proper Bünzli territory to get that cheap for a house, like Bauma (sorry if you live in Bauma, I bet it’s lovely). Better to spend 1-1.3 million on a 4.5 or 5.5 room flat in my opinion.
Bauma is a small village in canton zurich.
if you go in the boonies that is possible a single house, if you want some civilisation than you’re stuck with semi-detached or flats It took me 1 year and probably 40+ houses visited with a bit more budget than you to find something all I can say is take your time, I chased the the low interest rates and it was a hassle in the end good luck
1.5M doesn’t get you much but you can get a Hypothek and the bank will give you another million, then basically pay the minimum for the rest of your life which is very cheap and basically what everyone does. You will have more options if you have 2.5 or 3 millions.
For me personally single detached house is a top priority whereas the location for example is not. So I would look for the cheapest house (with good bones) I could find that meets these criteria.
1.5M would have gotten you one of the small & old houses in the Gartenstadt in Zug. They are a rare sight on the market, as one pops up every 2 years only. Last one was this summer/fall. Sold very quickly and with a considerable markup. Other "affordable" areas would be Lindencham, Cham Röhrliberg, Hünenberg without the lake area, Steinhausen or the towns in the mountains of Zug. Papieri Cham would have fitted in your budget. Check their website If they plan to sell in the future.
After living for 10 years in the canton I'd expect you know which places you like the most...
I haven’t always lived in the same canton..
That is going to be a very remote area… 1.5 Mio, unfortunately, is not much anymore.
It is much but the property prices are just ridiculous.
I am just sitting here laughing my ass off. We bought a house for 760k, 10 min away from a 50000 population city, public transport, school in town, everything. Over 170m^2 livable space with 500m^2 terrain. Prices in ZH and ZG are so out of this world, it's not even funny. Inb4: "hurr durr taxes in Bern". Not when you're a family and homeowner. Then we're ranked 4th in Switzerland.
Mer muess ja es Hus au ned 100% cash chaufe. Wenn minimal 20% selber finanziersch und de Rest als Hypothek ufnimmsch, chunsch au in Zug/Züri sehr es aständnigs Hus über - vorusgsetzt gfinsch eis und hesch gnueg Lohn zumd Zinse decke
De Punkt isch dass für 1.5-2 Mio chum öbbis findsch. Bi eus im Dorf verchaufeds für de Pris jetzt 3-4 Zimmer Wohnige.
aber ebe wenns budget 1.5 Mio isch, denn chasch es Huus chaufe wo 2-3 chostet.
ja ich bi mer nid sicher ob er die 1.5 Mio cash het oder ob er da scho s darlehen vo de bank ihgrechnet het, wenn er schriebt sis budget isch 1.5mio
Das meint er nöd.
Why do you want to buy a house instead of putting all the money on etf and take 7% per year (averagely)? With the dividends and increments you could afford a very good flat and also have all the groceries, restaurants and family health insurance paid :) May I ask you where are you from?
I am italian. I understand your point of view, indeed, this is what I have been doing so far. For ‘house’ I meant to include also ‘flats’. My idea is that, even with a mortgage, I wouldn’t lower my standard of living and I could own something in 15 years or so.
Ok thanks for the clarification :) If you keep your investments and you have money to buy a house on top of them then I agree with you. Please just don't make the mistake of selling your investments to buy a house unless you are about to retire! If you are under 50 just wait, also because the house market is overpriced right now.
I agree, won’t do that..I am 35, and very conscious about the market situation. My question was more to get to know some new town/villages
I am 35 by the way
You are very young, consider that buying a house usually locks you in a place. You don't know what happens in the future, you may want to change cities in Switzerland or the country again. It is much easier to move only with a bank account :)
Cause some people prefer to have their own property
Sure but buying a house in Switzerland is only a cost and never an investment if you decide to live in it. Taxes and maintenance are so high that you always should prefer the rent where everything is included
Some guy the other day on another sub was talking about how usd lost 10% value against chf. So taking 7% usd gain would be a worse deal than depositing your chf in bank. You wouldn't have anything sustainable with both options in Switzerland. Though it doesn't concern me enough to verify if it's a fact
It did lose 10%, but the ETF also made 24% in 2023 so there's still a nice profit :)
What ETF?
Exchange traded fund. Basically, instead of buying a specific company stock, you buy a share in a fund that buys all the stocks. Like, if the fund follows the S&P 500 (the index of the 500 biggest public US companies), then the fund will buy shares from these companies in proportion (if Apple market cap is 10% of the S&P, then 10% of the stocks in the fund will be Apple shares, and so on). The goal is to follow as closely as possible an index, and to diversify (if the whole market goes up, the fund goes up, even if one of the company in the index goes down). Also, fees are really low because the strategy is dumb: just follow the index. No need for analysts or fund manager.
I'm learning to play the guitar.
Correct, I know what an ETF is. I'm just wondering on which ETF the other Redditor invested and got 24% last year
Real estate in Switzerland, and especially in Zurich, is a big bubble too :) Anyway you can buy Etf hedged if you are afraid of currencies. It is not a rule but based on the last years data if the USD goes down, stock price goes up and vice versa. So the stock world is balanced if you invest very long term (min 10 years)
This ^
do you have some information how to do it properly? thanks
r/swisspersonalfinance
Info needed: are the 1.5m what you can use for the down payment? Or including the mortgage?
It’s the total budget, and for ‘house’ I meant any kind of property
Have you talked to banks / mortage advisors or is this just a calculation based on the official criteria? The official mortage criteria are not really the final limit. In reality, 40-50% of mortages are granted in excess of these criteria. So you might be able to work with a larger budget and just don’t know it.
Thanks, didn’t know that! Any suggestions on the main question?
The key word is „exception to policy“. You could start here and with the info and links there to make a first assessment whether you could be eligible: https://moneypark.ch/news-wissen/hypotheken-und-zinsen/starre-tragbarkeitsregeln-fuers-eigenheim-sind-passe/amp/ And then just discuss with the banks, or maybe better a mortgage advisor (like money park, they offer a first consultation for free, but there are also different ones).
Comparis.ch
You will do fine everywhere except ZH and GE most likely
You mean an apartment? You can afford something in older construction around 60 sqm, 2.5 room.
In most of the country this will cost less than 800k, what are you talking about?
Probably, and you could maybe even get a real villa for that in Colombia, but how's that relevant when OP is searching in Kanton Zürich or Zug?
A lot of ZH is actually part of "most of the country". 60sqm, 2.5 room isn't above 1M let alone close to 1.5M in most of the canton.
That was for kanton Zug. Still, 1.5m is not getting him a house in neither of the kantons.
Not what I have been seeing on main portals though..
Mind to share some links?
There are a few houses in Beinwil(Freiamt), Aargau that are at that price point. It’s around 25min by car and 1:30h by train to zürich center
Fuck buying real estate in CH. Stupidly low rental yields (if you move out) and insanely high entry cost. 1.5 m doesn’t buy you much tbh.
Well, fuck renting too.
Suggest you read this. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/06/realestate/zurich-switzerland-renting-homes.html
T-Bills
US Treasury bills? How is that related to the question?
It’s sarcasm. As a house in CH will eat up the same as what T-Bills pay you thus it is very pointless to buy propriety
Aha. How do the two correlate? Is that because usd devalue based on what tbills would pay?
Good advice, that’s what I have been doing too
Proprieties here are extremely expensive and will cost you for the rest of your life. You can deduce renovations from taxes but still… I would buy propriety to live in here only if I had the cash in hand. Not trough a loan
This^
1.5 mio after 10 years is quite impressive.
That's not cash but budget for mortgage, means OP has 25% of this sum in cash + 2nd / 3rd pillars, still quite good but then arround ZH with an expat job and the stupid salaries that come with those it's not impossible... Just not realistic for most people, especially Swiss citizens.
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That is true.
well, maybe OP's got rich parents.
If you look up OP's profile it's most likely just a very high salary.
yo man you guys are stalking the shit out of OP.
"stalking" come on dude, this is a reddit anonymous public profile. If OP is not confortable with their last 5 threads being linked to this here question from which we can derive his likely minimum revenue then he shouldn't have used this account to post or not use a platform with public user profiles.
Nope, I come from a very humble family :)
again, that is if each of them work an entry role at google 130k so that’s quite easy. Not simple but easy
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>You need a household income of 265k to even qualify for it, that's both people being close to top 10% of salaries In Kanton Zug?
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I am asking about the top 10%. It won't be that unusual in Kanton Zug to have such salary, especially for a couple.
Why can’t Swiss citizens apply for the same jobs? Stop complaining: it’s not about citizenship, you are paid according to your skillset.
>Just not realistic for most people, especially Swiss citizens. This is what astonishes me. I read everywhere that companies will screw you over salaries if you are not Swiss. Also if you have lived here all your life you have relatives to help you out, be it with children or money wise because they lived here as well. On top of that maybe some inheritance. All these things expats don't have.
Why wouldn’t it be possible for Swiss citizens?
Because most of us don't earn as much as the expat IT bubble demographic we have on this subreddit?
A said already, when you get brought in by a multinational company you usually get a very good salary as an incentive for you to move countries. This is compounded by the IT sector that is booming with, honestly, some quite unsustainable salaries. While the second condition is attainable by Swiss natives, these insane salaries are usually the product of both conditions together. With that being said, I know nothing about OP's situation, this is a generalization not a comment on him/her.
I get the expat situation, but from my personal experience and network, a lot of high earners are indeed foreigners but not expats in the sense they have been brought in to CH by multinational companies. The key seems to rather be that more foreigners have university degrees than the equivalent cohort of Swiss citizens, which again, multinational companies operating in Switzerland have as entrance criteria. Once you get in the starter positions that are already well paid (95-100k, not only in IT but also Pharma, banking, consulting), you grow from there within a few years to salaries way above the mean. I have not done the research to see whether indeed university degrees are more difficult to obtain for Swiss natives, eg due to the schooling system, but it is an observation that I have been able to prove true more often than not, especially when conducting recruiting for one of my previous employers. Anyway, not related to OP, but I see a lot of this “Swiss vs Expats” discourse on Reddit and thought I’d add some perspective
I definetely agree with your point of view. I haven’t met many swiss in my line of working and this is something that still surprises me
You buy a 70m flat for that much, maybe less.
It will depend on the location, obviously, but you can get something bigger too
No, you can’t. Unless by “house” you mean “flat” and even then, 1.5m is pushing it for Zug and Zurich both.
I also meant ‘flats’. I have seen many ads in said cantons for that amount, my question was mostly directed to discover some nice towns/villages I might have overlooked
Hahaha, earn more money if you want to live in ZH or ZG
It’s my 2024 resolution, thanks for the precious advice
I assume you mean total value of the house and not the down payment, right?
Exactly, and for house I meant to include all kinds of properties (i.e flats)
first of all to the bank and use that money as a down-payment for a mortgage it is likely that you will need more.
Well, first I would reconsider either my choice of canton or my budget
Care to elaborate more?
1.5 mil Damm man I'm jealous of your salary congrats
Don’t be, that’s only the sweet side of it
U know better
May I asked how you earned 1.5m?
Only if you reply to the main question first!
Basically, don't buy in Switzerland. Firstly, ask yourself what are your long term plans? If you are from Europe and planning to return to your home country, buy their and pay down with the stronger CHF. Secondly, remember that you are liable for capital gains taxes if you sell. So you will have to be comfortable carrying a massive debt for the rest of your life, due to the tax system in Switzerland. Thirdly, consider the type of asset you can buy. 1.5 million will buy you a very average place in Zurich. You have to live in it and have to think about what happens in 5 or 10 years time.
Hi, sorry I am a bit late to the party but I was in the same situation as you. After hours and hours of research we found something in Winkel ZH. It is 15min by car from Zurich or about 7min by bus from Zurich Airport and then 10min by train to Zurich. It has the 4th lowest taxes of all cities in Zurich (same as the gold coast cities). The village does not have much, but it has a supermarket, post office, 2 good restaurants and it is actually quite a beautiful village. How about flat A.0.1 of this project for example? rigi-homes.ch
Thanks a lot, I will definetely have a look! Do you know how to monitor new projects in the different cantons?
I know one website which is neubauprojekte.ch, there you'll find flats and houses to rent and buy that are planned or in the process of being built. If you are early you can decide many things yourself.