Un chalet appartenant à la même famille depuis cinq générations. Une villa, propriété d’un couple de retraités depuis vingt-cinq ans. Une ferme transformée en plusieurs logements pour les enfants héritiers... En Suisse, les histoires de biens immobiliers sont multiples, mais elles ont en commun de s’écrire sur la durée. Selon l’Office fédéral du logement, la majorité des personnes à la recherche d’un bien désirent y passer leur vie entière et environ 20% d’entre eux souhaiteraient y rester durant plus de dix ans. Une récente analyse réalisée par MoneyPark confirme la tendance: seuls 3% des propriétaires actuels prévoient de vendre leur bien au cours des trois prochaines années, 15% au cours des quatre à huit années à venir.
''A chalet belonging to the same family for 5 generations. A villa, property of a retired couple for 25 years. A farm transformed into several apartments for inheriting children...
According to the Federal bureau of housing, the majority of people looking for a property want to stay there for their all life, and 20% for at least 10 years. MoneyPark confirms this tendency: only 3% of current owners intend selling in the next 3 years, 15% in the next 4 to 8 years.''
When I was a child growing up in a large Swiss village, only rich people owned their homes- and many families spent their life with small children in a flat, only to buy in their 50s- just in time for the kids to leave. In those days, all houses were architect desinged and built to specification and taste- and the very British concept of buying a property already built, on an estate- was unknown too. That was so right up to the 90s. The concept of buying an apartment just did not exist.
Unlike in the UK, where most people who can buy will change regularly to ft in with the family needs and finances, and later downsize. Totally different attitudes, and the attachment of the Swiss to their home is very different to the UK.
I was in an apèro where I listened to the story of a couple on how they found the land to build their home. Basically, the father of the woman had to convince to seller to sell the land plot to her child. Owning something goes beyond the ability to pay......so this is very different to other places around the planet.
Neither my parents or any of their friends have downsized voluntarily. I and my siblings still have bedrooms there, should we want... Grandkids would have to sleep on the floor tho'
We are searching for our retirement home, and certainly will not be downsizing. Quite the opposite.
Sure, part of that is that we will live in a country where space is not doled out in fractions of millimeters, so at the end of our lives we want to finally have the room to breath free that we had to forgo living in Switzerland all these years.
I am so looking forward to having space for our hobbies: to entertain like I used to, a real woodwork shop for OH, and of course enough land to garden and allow the dogs to finally be dogs.
But a larger part is that we will want space for extended family to visit. The young'uns are all having babies and more babies now - even if only one family visits at a time that's at least three or four guest rooms needed. And it would make sense to have space for live-in help, should the need arise.
We'll build or renovate with an eye towards aging in place. And sustainability.
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Another reason few people I know plan to downsize is that we all saw the horrors of what happened to elderly people in assisted living or other form of senior communities during the pandemic lockdown.
Pre-pandemic my mother had put down a hefty deposit to keep her place on a wait list at the local retirement community, against the day when she could no longer drive. She had though that living in among friends, with support, with interesting activities on offer would be a good thing.
Well, having seen residents restricted to their rooms unable to benefit from that community, having seen too many friends die, and even more lose their faculties due to isolation, she took that option off the table. So now she rattles around in her huge house, and is determined to only leave feet first.
The British attitude is still generally stretch as far as possible to get on the ladder, save some more money and move up the chain. I think the first step of getting on the ladder is the hardest part.
If you are at the bottom of the ladder you are generally going to be paying less in mortgage interest than you would be in rent, plus at the bottom there is generally no/minimal transaction tax to be paid. Capital repayments are building up to your next deposit. There are all sorts of incentives to help you get your first deposit together, not to mention the bank of mum and dad helping out.
What I suspect has made and will continue make climbing the ladder harder in the future is increases in the transaction tax.
I’m also pretty sure that the downsizing strategy is a recent phenomenon as price rises on the leveraged investment have ended up being bigger than people have saved into their pensions.
The lack of death duties (certainly in Canton Zurich) or very low tax means that families are able to hold on to property through generations.
The UK's 40% over £325,000 value (doubled for a married couple) means, though downsizing is easy in the UK as there is no capital gains on your main property, handing over a large family home in the UK is a costly and difficult process financially.
Add to this Swiss capital gains on property sales, and you can see why they don't move readily.
There is also a great emotional attachment to property for those Swiss who can afford it. As a child in the UK I was moved through 6 houses by the time I was 9...
Get this- but as you say, you are not Swiss, and not looking into buying in Switzerland to retire too.
''part of that is that we will live in a country where space is not doled out in fractions of millimeters'' - again, this is not the case in many places in Switzerland, you have just been unfortunate to be in a place where that is the case. Certainly not the case here - and no, we didn't downsize, for sure. Au contraire.
It certainly is still the case in UK that people buy what they can afford, and then go up and up, if at all possible. For us, being able to buy a larger place was linked to moving away from London and Surrey, into the Midlands.
I was looking at a property, a flat and saw- "Das Grundstück ist Eigentum der StWEG zu 100%"
I think StWEG= Stockwerkeigentum. Does the above sentence mean that all flat owners have equal right to the land on which the flats are standing? Proportional to their flat size.
Her husband is in need of 24/7 care, and is looking at all options to see which best fits his needs, from bringing him home with her doing all the care, to a possible stay at an Altersheim.
The Altersheim would be very expensive. She can afford a few months from her savings, his pension, and other assets, and there is some kick-in from the KK and Gemeinde - but even so she will not be able to cover the costs long term from her more easily liquidable assets.
If her husband must stay in the Altersheim for longer, she has been told she will need to sell the house to cover costs, as the house is part of her husband’s portfolio of assets. There is a certain amount she will be able to keep for her own living needs, but the proceeds from the house above that amount has to go to her husband’s care before she can turn to any of the various social programs for help.
I imagine that the answer to your question might vary with individual circumstances. If you are concerned about financing your retirement, including the later years, Pro Senectute offers a financial advice service, you might consider setting up a consultation with them to help you better understand how things work in Switzerland in light of your individual situation.
It really should not, if you have done some financial planning..
- First of all check the disability cover on your pension fund for yourself, kids etc. If it is not up to scratch, see if they offer any additional cover you can buy.
- There are Swiss policies to cover things like home help in cases where the primary care giver for the kids is incapacitated, to cover home modifications needed by incapacity etc...
- Third pillar savings comes in a couple of varieties, one of which insures the savings into the future. While some people are 100% against this, you may have few options if you have been refused other types of cover. It will at least deliver some saving in retirement.
As you say bad things can happen, but everyone assumes it will happen to someone else. Well as a former accountant, I have met about five of these 'someone elses' and it is not very nice.
To my mind young contractors of all types are particularly exposed, because the pension funds used by the agents are designed to meet the minimum legal requirements and put as much cash into the employees hands as possible. And the usual way to do this is cut the disability benefits. Which would be fine if people covered it in other ways, but most don't. In fact most are not even aware of the issue until it is too late.
It is me and my wife only, we are in our early 50s. I have been self-employed for many years. All I contribute is to mandatory AHV insurance and the accident insurance (Personal Liability Insurance).
I don't contribute to anything else and won't get any other pension apart from my AHV related pension. My yearly income swings up and down. I do have savings and property outside Switzerland. Wife works full time and has all the traditional contributions. She will have better pension.
Do you suggest I take Disability Insurance from someone like Zurich Insurance? I used their "Calculate your premium" tool and apparently for CHF90 a month I can get CHF36'000 a year in case of disability? Btw, CHF36'000 was the highest amount selectable from the drop-down menu. It will pay until I reach retirement age, what about after that?
I will be honest though, if I can't take care of myself then I don't think I would want to continue living.
If I buy a flat in a building that was built in 1985, assuming I live another 45years, the building would be 60 years old. Anyone knows how long buildings usually last? Specially in smaller villages? Looking for a "forever home".
If it’s a nice location, the land may be worth more than the building at some point, then the owner will sell it and will get torn down to build shiny, new, expensive apartments....
Won't I be part owner of the land along with the other people who own their flats?
I assume any decision to sell in the future will be a decision by committee. Either way, I will get a cut from any such sale. Question is, will the money be enough for me to find another place when I am old, frail and close to my deathbed!