CH Switzerland · Housing affordability

How much house can I afford in Switzerland?

A household in Switzerland earning CHFa year, with CHFin cash & 3a plus CHFin Pillar 2 available, can afford …

Maximum purchase price · FINMA affordability test

CHF 1.02M

Bound by your income · CHF 815k mortgage on CHF 204k down

The three locks

Switzerland uses one formula. It will not move.

Every Swiss bank applies the same FINMA self-regulation. The 5% is the famous one (banks size your loan as if rates had tripled), but the down payment rule and the one-third rule bind most buyers in practice.

20%

Minimum down payment

At least 20% of the purchase price must be your own equity. Half of that, the first 10%, must be "hard equity" from outside your Pillar 2 pension fund.

0.20 × price

33%

Maximum cost-to-income

Annual housing costs (imputed interest, amortization, maintenance) cannot exceed one third of gross household income.

housing ≤ income ÷ 3

Imputed interest rate

The test is run at 5%, not today's ~1.8%; a stress test for a future where rates revert to their long-run mean. It hurts your budget more than your wallet.

rate = 5.00% (fixed)

Have a place in mind?

Drop in a price and see where it would fail.

The ceiling above tells you what you can buy. This tells you what it would take to buy a specific place. Each test is independent: you need to clear all three.

Target purchase price

CHF

CHF 100kCHF 5M

Not yet. 1 of 3 tests fail.

✕33% income ruleshort CHF 41k

You have CHF 180k/yrNeed CHF 221k/yr

✓20% down paymentpass

You have CHF 300kNeed CHF 250k

✓10% non-pension cashpass

You have CHF 200kNeed CHF 125k

The lever you can actually pull

Three ceilings. Whichever is lowest, that is your house.

With your cash and pension fixed, the price you can afford scales with income until either down-payment rule starts to bind. Above the kink in the cyan line, more salary will not buy you a bigger place; more savings will.

What you can affordIncome limit (5.6× gross)Total down (5× cash + pension)Hard equity (10× cash)

The bank's nightmare vs. your direct debit

You qualify for the stress test. You pay the real rate.

Banks calculate affordability at 5%. They lend at the actual rate, around 1.8% on a 5-year fixed. The gap is where the pain of qualifying turns into headroom in your monthly budget, for now.

Monthly headroom

2'427

The stress test charges you 1.9× what you will actually pay. That spread is what you have, in theory, to absorb a rate cycle, or invest, if you would rather.

Where this lands you

Median 4-room apartment, by city.

Your purchase-price ceiling (drawn in cyan) cuts across the price of a typical 4-room flat in Switzerland's nine largest urban markets. Cities above the line are out of reach without more income, more cash, or a different city.

Zug

CHF 2.15M

Zurich

CHF 1.78M

Geneva

CHF 1.69M

Lausanne

CHF 1.27M

Lucerne

CHF 1.18M

Lugano

CHF 950k

Basel

CHF 1.06M

Bern

CHF 980k

St. Gallen

CHF 780k

Within reachOut of reachYour ceiling · CHF 1.02M

Before you sign

This is probably the largest financial commitment of your life.

A home purchase is not just the price tag. There are significant costs on top of the purchase price that are not included in the affordability test above — and they add up fast.

9–12%

Upfront transaction costs

Notary fees, land registry, cantonal transfer tax (Handänderungssteuer), and bank arrangement fees. These are paid in cash on top of your down payment and are never financed.

1–2%

Ongoing annual costs

Building insurance, property tax (Liegenschaftssteuer), utilities, building reserve fund contributions, and the imputed rental value (Eigenmietwert) that is taxed as income.

Rent might win

In Swiss cities, renting and investing the difference often outperforms buying over 10–15 years. Ownership locks your capital, removes diversification, and costs more than most buyers expect.

None of this means you should not buy. It means you should go in with open eyes. The affordability test above tells you what you can do. Whether you should depends on how long you plan to stay, your alternative investments, and how much flexibility you need.

For scale

What else costs about CHF 1.02M?

A four-bedroom apartment in Bern · CHF 980k1.04×
A 12-metre sailboat moored on Lake Geneva, outfitted with 15 years of berth fees · CHF 750k1.36×
The career earnings of a median Swiss baker (40 working years, after tax) · CHF 2.60M0.39×
Tuition for one student at École hôtelière de Lausanne, six full BBA cycles · CHF 912k1.12×
CHF 4'000 a month invested at 6% real for 20 years (final portfolio value) · CHF 1.83M0.56×
A median four-room flat in Zurich · CHF 1.78M0.57×
A chalet in Verbier with a view of the Grand Combin · CHF 2.40M0.42×
A Porsche 911 GT3, replaced every three years for the next 40 years · CHF 3.08M0.33×
A waterfront villa on Lake Lugano with 800 m² of garden · CHF 3.50M0.29×

See the full income × down payment matrix

income ⬇ / cash ➡

CHF 30k

CHF 60k

CHF 100k

CHF 200k

30'000/yr

CHF 170k

income-bound

CHF 170k

income-bound

CHF 170k

income-bound

CHF 170k

income-bound

50'000/yr

CHF 283k

income-bound

CHF 283k

income-bound

CHF 283k

income-bound

CHF 283k

income-bound

80'000/yr

CHF 300k

equity-bound

CHF 453k

income-bound

CHF 453k

income-bound

CHF 453k

income-bound

120'000/yr

CHF 300k

equity-bound

CHF 600k

equity-bound

CHF 679k

income-bound

CHF 679k

income-bound

180'000/yr

CHF 300k

equity-bound

CHF 600k

equity-bound

CHF 1M

cash-bound

CHF 1.02M

income-bound

Holding your Pillar 2 fixed at CHF 100k for this table.

My Finance Tools · Portfolio trackerFree account

You have the 20%. Now do not lose it.

Track every account that feeds into your down payment: bank balances, Pillar 2 and 3a, brokerage, even crypto, in one place. We re-run this exact affordability test against your live balances every night and tell you the day you cross the threshold.

Track your assets, free

No card requiredCancel anytimeSwiss-hosted data2-minute setup

Next steps

Tools and guides to get you there.

Mortgage calculatorBuild an amortization schedule with extra payments. See total interest and how fast you pay it off.Calculate Savings goal plannerSet your down-payment target and a deadline. We back-solve the monthly savings rate you need.Plan Compound interestSee how your down-payment savings grow over time. Visualize the difference one extra year makes.Project Buying your first homeA step-by-step guide covering down payments, mortgage options, and the true cost of homeownership.Read

Frequently asked

Swiss banks apply two limits at once. First, you must put down at least 20% of the purchase price, of which at least half (10%) must be liquid “hard equity” such as cash, Pillar 3a or securities. Second, your total annual housing costs (calculated at a theoretical 5% mortgage rate, plus 1% maintenance and amortization) must not exceed one-third of gross household income. The lower of the two ceilings is your real budget.

The 5% imputed rate is a stress test enforced by FINMA self-regulation. It is designed so that you can still service the mortgage if rates normalize to a long-run average. In practice your monthly payment is closer to 2%, but the bank (and your borrowing limit) is sized for 5%.

Yes, up to half of the 20% down payment. The other half (10% hard equity) must come from outside the second pillar. Withdrawing from Pillar 2 reduces your future retirement benefits and disability cover, and the amount is taxed at a separate, reduced rate at withdrawal.

Three lines: imputed interest at 5% on the full mortgage; amortization bringing the loan from 80% down to 66.7% LTV over 15 years; and maintenance & ancillary costs at roughly 1% of the property value per year. Property tax and ongoing utilities sit on top in real life but are not part of the affordability test itself.

The 33%/5% test pre-dates the low-rate era and was deliberately kept conservative after 2008 to keep household leverage low. The flip side is the world’s most stable mortgage market: Swiss mortgage default rates are below 0.1%, and that stability is priced into the lowest long-term rates in Europe.

The rules are national. Every Swiss bank uses the same FINMA self-regulation. What changes is the property price you can find for your budget. In low-cost cantons like Jura, Glarus or Solothurn the same income reaches roughly 50–70% further than in Zurich or Zug.

Explore other countries

Australia

Can I afford a house in Australia?

Brazil

Can I afford a house in Brazil?

Canada

Can I afford a house in Canada?

France

Can I afford a house in France?

Germany

Can I afford a house in Germany?

Italy