Swiss Real Estate: Elegance and Serenity

There’s a new way of dong business in Switzerland and it’s got the whole Real Estate world buzzing. Historically, foreigners were forbidden from buying Real Estate in Switzerland but those restrictions have been relaxed, and what’s being offered to foreign nationals are low rental apartment buildings that have an average return of about 5% a year.

Unfortunately, the Swiss government restricts what a foreigner can buy to the low rental housing complexes that are mentioned above. As well, these apartments must be okayed for sale by the local cantons which are the Swiss version of an American state or a Canadian province. It should also be noted that while there are many of these apartment complexes available for sale in the various cantons in Switzerland, not all of them are up for sale. It is at the discretion of the various cantons if they want to provide these opportunities foreign nationals.

Of course most of these apartments are located in densely populated areas and they are very well built according to the highest Swiss standards. If you’re interested in buying something else that Real Estate in Switzerland has to offer, then you’ll need to take the steps necessary to change your status in their eyes.

First you’ll need to apply for a Swiss residence permit. Still most of the focus is on the Lex Koller, which is the name for the law made by the Swiss to limit the amount of foreign investment in their land. When you take a look at the kind of luxury residences in places like Geneva and Zurich, it’s not hard to understand the worries that these people have about preserving their national identity.

The concern is that the new law would see Swiss landlords pushed aside by higher prices and that perhaps some of the national way of doing things (that quite often incorporates an altruistic sense) would be pushed aside for those coming in and looking for only the profit motive. Still the government would maintain control over the rent increases so that citizen’s worries that the prices would go up above their reach would remain unfounded. There has been a report issued that suggests that the Swiss adopt a plan to smooth the transition period.

Still all this doesn’t mean that the Swiss Real Estate market isn’t alive and well. One of the things that needs to be taken into account is the fact that Swiss authorities are playing around with the tax system at the moment and, according to a report released this year, this will have an impact on the Real Estate market. The most important factor here is that the taxes vary greatly in areas since the local authorities are left in many cases to set the taxes for the area on their own.   

This article was written by Kenny Gregg, Advertising and Marketing specialist for Virtual Concepts Unlimited, LLC Specializing in Real Estate Home Search http://www.listedineurope.com European Real Estate

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