Housing shortage gets extreme in Zurich.
I remember also going for a viewing in a few years back only to see a queue going around the block. I just left immediately as there was no chance that a foreigner would get it.
The instagram video with “300 people line” is interesting.
If I were the landlord, I’d disqualify them based on how the willingness to put up with the non-sense line. They will probably have an above average chance of having troubles to pay on time.
If the stats from the text are correct.. the population has been kept pretty flat, the # of flats has increased by 30%, as well as the building area, but the # of people by household has decreased by 33%, and the average size of the living space has increased by 33%.
So, it is not a housing problem… it is a change of social paradigm problem, or, am I reading it wrong?
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I don’t get your logic? The flats these people are queuing up for are the ones an average person can afford. According to you these people can’t be trusted to pay that rent so … give those flasts to the top earners as well, the cool ones who apply by phone from home?
Still, I don’t get those masses of people queuing up. The landlords can’t possibly lead them all through the place and have them fill forms? That’s silly, what are they trying to prove? I don’t know how many people apply when a flat gets free here but there is never more than 3-5 looking at it. I guess up to 5 is when she didn’t like the applicants.
That’s definitely one of the problems. Although down-sizing has become popular and people would LUV to live in tiny houses but guess what? Government is stubbern, not standard enough.
Does someone working 100% or running their own business has time left to queue like that? I’d say the chances of people on the lower side of income distribution are high. So, quite probably a cooperative owned building with a social mandate. So, let the cooperatives fulfill their mandate, and let for-profit housing set the filters.
Correct, people likes to live alone but not enough apartments for everyone to live alone. The most common household in CH is a 1-person household.
Also, secondary residences. Zurich has a low ratio of 2nd homes (8.4%), but how reasonable are 2nd homes when people can’t find a primary residence?
I’m not sure for Switzerland, but I remember reading something along those lines about trends for lower household formation meant a shortage of housing as there needed to more more units with lower occupancy.
Wow, how condescending is that! So your business-owners should get any non cooperative flats, even the reasonable priced ones.
Who would want to have a holiday home in Zurich? 
The tenants/owners of these 8.4% probably live there on weekdays to be close to work and spend weekends with the families in Germany or somewhere else.
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But I think immigration is still the primary reason for the shortage. Family apartments are hard to find as well.
Ahhh well, I’m no city person but it would be kind of cool (and luxurious) to reside somewhere in Ticino and have an apartment smack in the middle of Zurich to pop by when ever I’m in the mood.
yeah, where is that?
But these particular ones look as if they dropped off a lorry 
That’s only 3.2% of the city’s population. That leaves 5.2% others, propably quite a few AirBnB and similar.
I seem to recall that foto from a Tagi article, might be worth checking.
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Albispass
Housing/accommodation shortage in Zurich is nothing new. When we moved here in 1989 it was impossible. We found a flat only through “Vitamin B” (who you know (Bekant)). We had to fly out from the UK over a weekend to meet the owners.
We moved out of that 3½ room rental at CHF1450/month after 4 years outside the cancelleation period. A 2-line classified ad in the Tagi got us 120 applicants - some so deparate they divulged a lot of personal details - salary, savings - you name it…
The ZĂĽrcher and ZĂĽrcherinen may thank themselves - it is the city dwellers who overwhelmingly voted for the restrictive zoning law in 2013:
Pick a number between 500 and 700 people in some desirable places, 3, 4, 5 hundred out in the boonies.
Desirable places like within 10 km´s to a train station or with park and ride capabilities and with the motor car being slowly banned in the cities and the shift to public transport this is only going to get worse.
That’s right. And the absolute most beautiful spot on it too! I passed there day and night on regular basis in the 80-ies. Wow! But traffic must be so much worse by now there.
Thanks to your one-word-reply I was able to check this project out. I’m rather surprised that they don’t seem to know about tiny-house-rules like using every milimeter. Stairs without storage room? Strange.
What I’m not surprised about is the prices for these things - I found a not really tiny house but tiny flat place in Zollikerberg too - the Swiss turning a modesty-thing into a bigger luxury than a 70-100m2 flat.
Ah well, TIS.
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Is this statistic for the the City of ZĂĽrich or the Kanton?
The Zurich “Aglo” has some many nice places to live, but I believe living within “Zone 10” is a status thing…in which case, you have to stand in line…