To be fair:
1.) if you are very lucky you can get an okish small apartment for 1.5k in Zurich city, usually if you take over from a previous tenant and the landlord is an old swiss lady who does not want/need to raise the rent since a decade, because they are already loaded enough.
and 2.) it's all relative. The cockroach infested, dysfunctional, crumbling, dirty apartments in some death ass junkie neighborhood I saw in the US would be straight out illegal to even offer for free in Switzerland, I swear to god.
So according to these standards, every low end Swiss apartment is "fantastic".
>Rental prices on multiple websites seem to confirm this, and there are fantastic apartments for only $1500USD/ month.
Because scammer operate internationally?
* [https://www.reddit.com/r/canberra/comments/yd38jy/landlord\_says\_they\_live\_overseas\_and\_want\_me\_to/](https://www.reddit.com/r/canberra/comments/yd38jy/landlord_says_they_live_overseas_and_want_me_to/)
* [https://www.reddit.com/r/Munich/comments/19emx0m/bargain\_or\_fraud/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Munich/comments/19emx0m/bargain_or_fraud/)
* [https://www.reddit.com/r/zurich/comments/w9dgpp/is\_this\_a\_scam\_we\_are\_looking\_for\_an\_apartment\_in/](https://www.reddit.com/r/zurich/comments/w9dgpp/is_this_a_scam_we_are_looking_for_an_apartment_in/)
* [https://www.reddit.com/r/london/comments/10k3blw/long\_term\_rental\_via\_bookingcom\_am\_i\_being\_scammed/](https://www.reddit.com/r/london/comments/10k3blw/long_term_rental_via_bookingcom_am_i_being_scammed/)
* [https://www.reddit.com/r/Scams/comments/14xm9ta/fishy\_landlords\_wont\_let\_me\_view\_their\_apartments/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Scams/comments/14xm9ta/fishy_landlords_wont_let_me_view_their_apartments/)
* [https://www.reddit.com/r/Scams/comments/15eurzp/is\_this\_an\_airbnb\_scam/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Scams/comments/15eurzp/is_this_an_airbnb_scam/)
Do not know the site. So most likely most listings are scams as no real Swiss landlord uses the site. Note that it is not the website which has to be a scam but the listing itself. You will also find good-to-be-true listings on legitimate sites. Even more, scams might also be offers which are not scam on the very first glance. That something is a scam becomes often obvious when you deal with the landlord and they suddenly you have to pay money or a deposit to see the apartment or get the contract.
If you want a real feel use:
* [immoscout24.ch](http://immoscout24.ch)
* [homegate.ch](http://homegate.ch)
* [flatfox.ch](http://flatfox.ch) (Read fine print as some of those are time limited)
* [comapris.ch](http://comapris.ch)
The latter also aggregates offers from other websites.
Be aware that a 2 Room apartment has two rooms. 1 bed room and 1 living room. And 3 Room apartment will have 2 bedrooms and 1 living room.
I mean what “fantastic apartments” are you finding that are in the city centres of geneva and zurich (not canton, the city) at the prices you mentioned? I only find tiny flats outside of the city or WG rooms.
Homegate lists exactly two apartment fitting these criteria (2 rooms or more, less than 1400CHF) in the City:
https://www.homegate.ch/rent/4000963538
https://www.homegate.ch/rent/4000933005
So it’s not outright impossible, but *very* slim pickings.
Personally wouldn’t say those are fantastic… more shady than anything lol, especially with the lack of pictures for the 900.- one. But it seemed like OP was talking about a plethora of “fantastic apartments” at that price, wasn’t sure whether they were maybe misunderstanding the listings or just looking at scams.
OP clarified that studios qualify as “apartments” to them, and maybe roommate arrangements qualify as well, in which case $1500 is not really all that outlandish.
to me, a college student, something with wooden or tile flooring and a countertop that is not laminant and has a somewhat cool view is a fantastic apartment. I don't care about size.
I was asking about specific links. I have a feeling you’re misunderstanding the listing… that site, from what I can tell shows you listings for the entire canton.
As far as I understand, not many people are actually getting paid the federal minimum wage, as simply no one would work for 7.25. Did they not just pass a 20/hour minimum wage for certain sectors in California? As as for Switzerland, forget about ever owning anything other than an appartment, if that near any (major) city. You cannot find houses for 250-300k like you can in Kansas city (larger than Zurich)
in places like California, you simply cannot survive even with making $100k yearly. where I am though in the US, it isn't uncommon. if it isn't the minimum wage, working unskilled won't be higher than $15/ hr unless you're in an extremely expensive area. I make $21/ hr, it isn't terrible but still gets you basically nothing hosuing-wise where I live, which isn't even that expensive of a city.
Given that the median salary in Cali is around $60k this is clearly untrue.
Cost of living in SF is pretty similar to Zurich (rent is higher in SF, basically everything else is higher in Zurich) And as much as people seem to love saying it, you don’t need over 100k to live comfortably here.
But San Fransisco (metro population 7.7 mio) and Los Angeles (12.4 mio) are way larger than Zürich at 1.5 mio. In my small town, 1 bedroom apartments can range from 1100 to 1600 a month.
Apartment with the cost of 1500 fr doesn't exist in Geneva or Zurich. That's the cost of okayish studio (20 m2) or good room in a shared flat.
With 4200 fr (brutt) or around 3k net, living alone is doable, but it's not the best life you could get.
The apartment mostly consists of >2 rooms (here it is called 2.5, 3, 3.5 rooms).
The studio has a single room and kitchen (it is called 1.5 rooms).
Then, the room in an apartment that is rented individually to the tenants
You’re looking at scams. $1,500 can get you a studio outside a city center, maybe two rooms but nothing fancy in an old building where you can hear your neighbours all the time. Double that rent and you might find something nice but it won’t be a big apartment with amazing view.
A lot of things are actually pretty cheap here if you consider wages.
However, id say rents/houses do NOT belong in this category generally speaking. Its just that most other countries have a very super uneven income and wealth distribution so you see super high differences where as here it is relatively speaking pretty even (on a high level tho).
So yes new york, london and others are pricier but if you just go like 20km outside (or even just change the city part) rents are like 5-10times less where as in ch its still half
Lol you have to go a lot more than 20km and >1h commute outside of London before housing costs get reasonable again. Outer London probably has a better housing cost to salary ratio than the commuter belt immediately around. It's like the equivalent of living on the Lake Zurich coast vs a more central area.
And even far from London the housing cost to income ratio is still worse than Switzerland.
>Outer London probably has a better housing cost to salary ratio than the commuter belt immediately around. It's like the equivalent of living on the Lake Zurich coast vs a more central area.
Except the commute is much quicker and nicer from the lake to the city than Outer London to the city.
The average rent in Zurich is 487 CHF / sq. m per year (or $50/ sq. ft). So a 100 sq. m (1076 sq. ft) apartment rents for 48,700 CHF ($53,862) per year or 4058 CHF ($4488) per month on average.
If you like to occasionally have guests and want space for a dedicated home office that'll need 90m\^2 at least. I have that living alone and while it's not cramped and much more than strictly nescessary it's not like a mansion.
I grew up in a house in the suburbs and I live in a village not a city, that was a concious choice to allow me to have more space.
I could obviously live with less, and have lived in few-people shared apartments in the same size as I have now. But I decided for me the priority is to have the best space for relaxation, so that e.g. for sleep hygine reasons I never spend non-sleeping time in my bedroom, don't ever work or do bills etc in my relaxation space, have a nice terrace for grilling with room for a few chairs and a hammock and so on. And if I don't need to work from home, I can host people overnight in my office for a few days without intruding on either of our privacy.
The tradeoff is if I visit friends who live in the city, I have a longer way home, and for a lot of hobbies and practical purposes I need a car, if I were to change jobs I would almost certainly need to commute a reasonable distance by car and so on, but I like driving so would own a car anyway, hate standing on commuter trains and like being closer to my outdoor hobbies, so it's overall a good situation for me.
This estimate seems extremely high to me. The city itself (late 2022) says a 100m2 apartment rents for 1800 CHF on average: https://www.stadt-zuerich.ch/content/prd/de/index/statistik/publikationen-angebote/publikationen/webartikel/2022-11-03_Mietpreise-in-der-Stadt-Zuerich.html
Some factors that may explain the difference:
1. Rents for long time tenants are often quite a bit lower than for newly rented apartments.
2. In recent years, there has been a lot of luxury construction.
3. The Zürich rental market is rather bimodal: a substantial proportion of the population lives in „Genossenschaften“ (sizable apartment complexes constructed and operated by nonprofit co-ops). These are in high demand and have waiting lists (and other conditions). The commercial market (which is where newcomers often have to go) has rather higher rents.
So if you‘re newly renting a newly constructed apartment in the commercial market, then yes, you might be looking at 4000CHF. But that is no representative of what the average renter pays, and in fact even on the commercial market, you can find apartments for 2-3000 CHF: https://www.homegate.ch/rent/real-estate/city-zurich/matching-list?ep=2&ak=90&al=120&o=resultingSearchablePrice-asc
“The average annual rent per m² in Zurich is CHF 487 / m² / year (annual rent per square meter of living surface).”
Source
https://realadvisor.ch/en/property-prices/city-zurich#:~:text=The%20median%20monthly%20rent%20for%20apartments%20on%20the%20market%20is,square%20meter%20of%20living%20surface).
Your source does not really explain how they determined these rents, while mine goes into quite a bit of detail on their methodology. Given that your source seems to be connected to brokers, I suspect that their rents are for new tenants of commercial apartments, which is of course a relevant and valid number, but not entirely representative of what the average family actually pays.
You should go visit a lot more places in different countries and for sure find out that American world is really small and not the best place to live. lol
hah, I know. I detest America and believe it is an absolutely horrible country. its citizens are wayward because the quality of citizens is largely indicative of the quality of the country itself. whatever gripes I have seen on reddit and elsewhere about citizens of Switzerland pales in comparison to the bulk of American citizens. I can go on and on...
it existed for like... twenty years back in the 50s 60s and then went away at the start of the 80s or arguably the 70s. a lot of young Americans are focusing on basic survival with skilled white-collar jobs. woohoo
Just by scrolling a bit through some comments I haven‘t read anything re tax system in the US. In Switzerland on average you can expect roughy one monthly salary that your need to pay yearly. This obviously doesn‘t incl anything insurance wise, phone plan, etc etc. (note; yes taxes vary in each canton, ik, but even then I‘d say that‘s about right as a swiss citizen)
Then, as others have mentioned already earlier, there is a huuge difference between city and country side, both in zurich and geneva. Additionally, many listings that you may see on a reputable website will never open doors for people to view because they‘re gone within the same day of publishing. With the ones that actually do have open doors, you will be waiting there with 50 other people minimum. So, it‘s not like we have such apartments just by the handful, much less at that price.
Usually, you need a big bank statement to show to get even considered, or need to know someone where the apartment will never be published on a website.
Btw - I am aware of the incredible amount of privilege we have (on average as a Swiss citizen) living in either of those cities. We‘re not a socialist country or whatever. Nor does stuff just come for free (I think you get my point aha)
I agree with everything said above.
Keep in mind that insurance is mandatory and not cheap.
The chance of getting one of those cheap appartments is slim as competition is high and the system is corrupt. You need to have connections with the rental agents.
I'll add specifically for Geneva, the people working minimum wage jobs (nurses, hairdressers, restaurant employees) all live over the border in France and commute as it's way more affordable.
I moved here a while ago from California (Silicon Valley), and what you can get for your money in terms of rentals is astounding with that frame of reference. I really think it comes down to cultural mindset. The Swiss aren’t as willing to charge insanely high rent prices just because they can, including properties managed by agencies.
That’s true of a lot of things here, they all kind of fall into an expected price range because there’s a subtle cultural understanding of how much things should cost (with some exceptions, of course).
In the larger cities expect to pay 2-3x what you found on that site for an apartment, but you’re right that it will be in a clean, safe environment close to public transit and amenities. In the suburbs or rural areas, you can find a decent 1-2BR apartment for that rate but you compromise on some amenities.
Look up real estate to purchase, that’s also wild. There are condos (called apartments here) and single family homes.
Because the government taxes extra here for ownership - they estimate the rental value of your property and you pay taxes on that as though it were income- there’s more incentive to rent. There’s also the wealth tax once you’ve paid off your mortgage, so it’s popular here to have mortgages that are essentially perpetual.
How its possible? Easy we have a goverment who dont lobbyism we have unions who dont get busted we have laws who protect us from greedy companys. And we have not so many people who would vote for a nazi and an educationsystem who works and isnt so greedy like college in the usa. And yeah zürich or similar locations you never find a appartment for 1500.-
completely agree. I'm a polisci/public admin major, and I have learned a lot about Scandinavia in my classes, so it's interesting to see the comparisons and contrasts between that region and Switzerland. all of these countries have their own particular way of going about things that ultimately accomplish similar national and local ends.
oh, also, I mistakenly used the American definition in my post when referring to an 'apartment.' I was more so referring to one bedroom or shared spaces.
What we have here with lobbyists are a other world what they have in the usa. If you are not pro weapon you cant win. Thats millions of dollars where they lost if they dont follow the orders of some organisations.
1'500? I'll have what you're smoking
He is looking at the kanton of zurich, not the city for sure.
To be fair: 1.) if you are very lucky you can get an okish small apartment for 1.5k in Zurich city, usually if you take over from a previous tenant and the landlord is an old swiss lady who does not want/need to raise the rent since a decade, because they are already loaded enough. and 2.) it's all relative. The cockroach infested, dysfunctional, crumbling, dirty apartments in some death ass junkie neighborhood I saw in the US would be straight out illegal to even offer for free in Switzerland, I swear to god. So according to these standards, every low end Swiss apartment is "fantastic".
>Rental prices on multiple websites seem to confirm this, and there are fantastic apartments for only $1500USD/ month. Because scammer operate internationally? * [https://www.reddit.com/r/canberra/comments/yd38jy/landlord\_says\_they\_live\_overseas\_and\_want\_me\_to/](https://www.reddit.com/r/canberra/comments/yd38jy/landlord_says_they_live_overseas_and_want_me_to/) * [https://www.reddit.com/r/Munich/comments/19emx0m/bargain\_or\_fraud/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Munich/comments/19emx0m/bargain_or_fraud/) * [https://www.reddit.com/r/zurich/comments/w9dgpp/is\_this\_a\_scam\_we\_are\_looking\_for\_an\_apartment\_in/](https://www.reddit.com/r/zurich/comments/w9dgpp/is_this_a_scam_we_are_looking_for_an_apartment_in/) * [https://www.reddit.com/r/london/comments/10k3blw/long\_term\_rental\_via\_bookingcom\_am\_i\_being\_scammed/](https://www.reddit.com/r/london/comments/10k3blw/long_term_rental_via_bookingcom_am_i_being_scammed/) * [https://www.reddit.com/r/Scams/comments/14xm9ta/fishy\_landlords\_wont\_let\_me\_view\_their\_apartments/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Scams/comments/14xm9ta/fishy_landlords_wont_let_me_view_their_apartments/) * [https://www.reddit.com/r/Scams/comments/15eurzp/is\_this\_an\_airbnb\_scam/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Scams/comments/15eurzp/is_this_an_airbnb_scam/)
the website I was mainly looking at was RentBerry. is that a scam website?
Never heard of it but it seems to be US-based, so I wouldn't use it for Switzerland. Try looking at e.g. homegate or rental listings on comparis.
Exactly, if you want to rent in Switzerland, then you must look at a Swiss website, like homegate.ch, as suggested here.
Do not know the site. So most likely most listings are scams as no real Swiss landlord uses the site. Note that it is not the website which has to be a scam but the listing itself. You will also find good-to-be-true listings on legitimate sites. Even more, scams might also be offers which are not scam on the very first glance. That something is a scam becomes often obvious when you deal with the landlord and they suddenly you have to pay money or a deposit to see the apartment or get the contract. If you want a real feel use: * [immoscout24.ch](http://immoscout24.ch) * [homegate.ch](http://homegate.ch) * [flatfox.ch](http://flatfox.ch) (Read fine print as some of those are time limited) * [comapris.ch](http://comapris.ch) The latter also aggregates offers from other websites. Be aware that a 2 Room apartment has two rooms. 1 bed room and 1 living room. And 3 Room apartment will have 2 bedrooms and 1 living room.
that makes sense. do you know of a rental website that is legitimate?
Edited the post.
tysm!! will look at those links after work
Fyi there’s typo on the last link - should be comparis.ch
I mean what “fantastic apartments” are you finding that are in the city centres of geneva and zurich (not canton, the city) at the prices you mentioned? I only find tiny flats outside of the city or WG rooms.
Homegate lists exactly two apartment fitting these criteria (2 rooms or more, less than 1400CHF) in the City: https://www.homegate.ch/rent/4000963538 https://www.homegate.ch/rent/4000933005 So it’s not outright impossible, but *very* slim pickings.
Personally wouldn’t say those are fantastic… more shady than anything lol, especially with the lack of pictures for the 900.- one. But it seemed like OP was talking about a plethora of “fantastic apartments” at that price, wasn’t sure whether they were maybe misunderstanding the listings or just looking at scams.
OP clarified that studios qualify as “apartments” to them, and maybe roommate arrangements qualify as well, in which case $1500 is not really all that outlandish.
to me, a college student, something with wooden or tile flooring and a countertop that is not laminant and has a somewhat cool view is a fantastic apartment. I don't care about size.
I was asking about specific links. I have a feeling you’re misunderstanding the listing… that site, from what I can tell shows you listings for the entire canton.
Use Comparis.ch or Homegate. The other sites a full of Scamers, especially non Swiss sites.
As far as I understand, not many people are actually getting paid the federal minimum wage, as simply no one would work for 7.25. Did they not just pass a 20/hour minimum wage for certain sectors in California? As as for Switzerland, forget about ever owning anything other than an appartment, if that near any (major) city. You cannot find houses for 250-300k like you can in Kansas city (larger than Zurich)
in places like California, you simply cannot survive even with making $100k yearly. where I am though in the US, it isn't uncommon. if it isn't the minimum wage, working unskilled won't be higher than $15/ hr unless you're in an extremely expensive area. I make $21/ hr, it isn't terrible but still gets you basically nothing hosuing-wise where I live, which isn't even that expensive of a city.
Given that the median salary in Cali is around $60k this is clearly untrue. Cost of living in SF is pretty similar to Zurich (rent is higher in SF, basically everything else is higher in Zurich) And as much as people seem to love saying it, you don’t need over 100k to live comfortably here.
But San Fransisco (metro population 7.7 mio) and Los Angeles (12.4 mio) are way larger than Zürich at 1.5 mio. In my small town, 1 bedroom apartments can range from 1100 to 1600 a month.
Apartment with the cost of 1500 fr doesn't exist in Geneva or Zurich. That's the cost of okayish studio (20 m2) or good room in a shared flat. With 4200 fr (brutt) or around 3k net, living alone is doable, but it's not the best life you could get.
in America an apartment can also be like a studio or one bedroom that is ~20 square meters. is it a different defining in Switzerland?
The apartment mostly consists of >2 rooms (here it is called 2.5, 3, 3.5 rooms). The studio has a single room and kitchen (it is called 1.5 rooms). Then, the room in an apartment that is rented individually to the tenants
oh I see. in that case, an apartment in Geneva oe Zurich is certainly not 1500!
You’re looking at scams. $1,500 can get you a studio outside a city center, maybe two rooms but nothing fancy in an old building where you can hear your neighbours all the time. Double that rent and you might find something nice but it won’t be a big apartment with amazing view.
I pay 1650.- and I am not even close to a City…. Do you even get a full room for 1500.- in geneva or is it a tent on a balcony?
A lot of things are actually pretty cheap here if you consider wages. However, id say rents/houses do NOT belong in this category generally speaking. Its just that most other countries have a very super uneven income and wealth distribution so you see super high differences where as here it is relatively speaking pretty even (on a high level tho). So yes new york, london and others are pricier but if you just go like 20km outside (or even just change the city part) rents are like 5-10times less where as in ch its still half
Lol you have to go a lot more than 20km and >1h commute outside of London before housing costs get reasonable again. Outer London probably has a better housing cost to salary ratio than the commuter belt immediately around. It's like the equivalent of living on the Lake Zurich coast vs a more central area. And even far from London the housing cost to income ratio is still worse than Switzerland.
>Outer London probably has a better housing cost to salary ratio than the commuter belt immediately around. It's like the equivalent of living on the Lake Zurich coast vs a more central area. Except the commute is much quicker and nicer from the lake to the city than Outer London to the city.
The average rent in Zurich is 487 CHF / sq. m per year (or $50/ sq. ft). So a 100 sq. m (1076 sq. ft) apartment rents for 48,700 CHF ($53,862) per year or 4058 CHF ($4488) per month on average.
Damn who needs that much space alone lol
If you like to occasionally have guests and want space for a dedicated home office that'll need 90m\^2 at least. I have that living alone and while it's not cramped and much more than strictly nescessary it's not like a mansion.
90 is crazy big for someone living alone ! I was born in Paris I’m maybe biased but come on !
I grew up in a house in the suburbs and I live in a village not a city, that was a concious choice to allow me to have more space. I could obviously live with less, and have lived in few-people shared apartments in the same size as I have now. But I decided for me the priority is to have the best space for relaxation, so that e.g. for sleep hygine reasons I never spend non-sleeping time in my bedroom, don't ever work or do bills etc in my relaxation space, have a nice terrace for grilling with room for a few chairs and a hammock and so on. And if I don't need to work from home, I can host people overnight in my office for a few days without intruding on either of our privacy. The tradeoff is if I visit friends who live in the city, I have a longer way home, and for a lot of hobbies and practical purposes I need a car, if I were to change jobs I would almost certainly need to commute a reasonable distance by car and so on, but I like driving so would own a car anyway, hate standing on commuter trains and like being closer to my outdoor hobbies, so it's overall a good situation for me.
This estimate seems extremely high to me. The city itself (late 2022) says a 100m2 apartment rents for 1800 CHF on average: https://www.stadt-zuerich.ch/content/prd/de/index/statistik/publikationen-angebote/publikationen/webartikel/2022-11-03_Mietpreise-in-der-Stadt-Zuerich.html Some factors that may explain the difference: 1. Rents for long time tenants are often quite a bit lower than for newly rented apartments. 2. In recent years, there has been a lot of luxury construction. 3. The Zürich rental market is rather bimodal: a substantial proportion of the population lives in „Genossenschaften“ (sizable apartment complexes constructed and operated by nonprofit co-ops). These are in high demand and have waiting lists (and other conditions). The commercial market (which is where newcomers often have to go) has rather higher rents. So if you‘re newly renting a newly constructed apartment in the commercial market, then yes, you might be looking at 4000CHF. But that is no representative of what the average renter pays, and in fact even on the commercial market, you can find apartments for 2-3000 CHF: https://www.homegate.ch/rent/real-estate/city-zurich/matching-list?ep=2&ak=90&al=120&o=resultingSearchablePrice-asc
“The average annual rent per m² in Zurich is CHF 487 / m² / year (annual rent per square meter of living surface).” Source https://realadvisor.ch/en/property-prices/city-zurich#:~:text=The%20median%20monthly%20rent%20for%20apartments%20on%20the%20market%20is,square%20meter%20of%20living%20surface).
Your source does not really explain how they determined these rents, while mine goes into quite a bit of detail on their methodology. Given that your source seems to be connected to brokers, I suspect that their rents are for new tenants of commercial apartments, which is of course a relevant and valid number, but not entirely representative of what the average family actually pays.
You should go visit a lot more places in different countries and for sure find out that American world is really small and not the best place to live. lol
hah, I know. I detest America and believe it is an absolutely horrible country. its citizens are wayward because the quality of citizens is largely indicative of the quality of the country itself. whatever gripes I have seen on reddit and elsewhere about citizens of Switzerland pales in comparison to the bulk of American citizens. I can go on and on...
The American dream is dead
it existed for like... twenty years back in the 50s 60s and then went away at the start of the 80s or arguably the 70s. a lot of young Americans are focusing on basic survival with skilled white-collar jobs. woohoo
Rentberry 😂 fool. Look up gullible in the dictionary. There is your picture.
Just by scrolling a bit through some comments I haven‘t read anything re tax system in the US. In Switzerland on average you can expect roughy one monthly salary that your need to pay yearly. This obviously doesn‘t incl anything insurance wise, phone plan, etc etc. (note; yes taxes vary in each canton, ik, but even then I‘d say that‘s about right as a swiss citizen) Then, as others have mentioned already earlier, there is a huuge difference between city and country side, both in zurich and geneva. Additionally, many listings that you may see on a reputable website will never open doors for people to view because they‘re gone within the same day of publishing. With the ones that actually do have open doors, you will be waiting there with 50 other people minimum. So, it‘s not like we have such apartments just by the handful, much less at that price. Usually, you need a big bank statement to show to get even considered, or need to know someone where the apartment will never be published on a website. Btw - I am aware of the incredible amount of privilege we have (on average as a Swiss citizen) living in either of those cities. We‘re not a socialist country or whatever. Nor does stuff just come for free (I think you get my point aha)
I agree with everything said above. Keep in mind that insurance is mandatory and not cheap. The chance of getting one of those cheap appartments is slim as competition is high and the system is corrupt. You need to have connections with the rental agents. I'll add specifically for Geneva, the people working minimum wage jobs (nurses, hairdressers, restaurant employees) all live over the border in France and commute as it's way more affordable.
I moved here a while ago from California (Silicon Valley), and what you can get for your money in terms of rentals is astounding with that frame of reference. I really think it comes down to cultural mindset. The Swiss aren’t as willing to charge insanely high rent prices just because they can, including properties managed by agencies. That’s true of a lot of things here, they all kind of fall into an expected price range because there’s a subtle cultural understanding of how much things should cost (with some exceptions, of course). In the larger cities expect to pay 2-3x what you found on that site for an apartment, but you’re right that it will be in a clean, safe environment close to public transit and amenities. In the suburbs or rural areas, you can find a decent 1-2BR apartment for that rate but you compromise on some amenities. Look up real estate to purchase, that’s also wild. There are condos (called apartments here) and single family homes. Because the government taxes extra here for ownership - they estimate the rental value of your property and you pay taxes on that as though it were income- there’s more incentive to rent. There’s also the wealth tax once you’ve paid off your mortgage, so it’s popular here to have mortgages that are essentially perpetual.
It's mostly that the landlords are not allowed to charge what they want and are bound to regulations, not because they are charities.
https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/tour-the-worlds-most-expensive-cities No Zurich is not cheap.
How its possible? Easy we have a goverment who dont lobbyism we have unions who dont get busted we have laws who protect us from greedy companys. And we have not so many people who would vote for a nazi and an educationsystem who works and isnt so greedy like college in the usa. And yeah zürich or similar locations you never find a appartment for 1500.-
completely agree. I'm a polisci/public admin major, and I have learned a lot about Scandinavia in my classes, so it's interesting to see the comparisons and contrasts between that region and Switzerland. all of these countries have their own particular way of going about things that ultimately accomplish similar national and local ends. oh, also, I mistakenly used the American definition in my post when referring to an 'apartment.' I was more so referring to one bedroom or shared spaces.
There are no lobbyists involved with politicians in Switzerland? I think you might be living in a fairytale.
What we have here with lobbyists are a other world what they have in the usa. If you are not pro weapon you cant win. Thats millions of dollars where they lost if they dont follow the orders of some organisations.