Renting in Zurich often beats buying a home in 2026, ZKB finds

Zurich Cantonal Bank has found that long-term tenants are more often than not better off continuing to rent rather than investing in a property in Zurich.

Understanding the "retention bonus" in the Zurich housing market

The Swiss housing market is under pressure, with high prices and often too few homes for the number of people. New analysis by Zurich Cantonal Bank (ZKB), reported by 20 Minuten, has revealed that residents are now frequently better off renting an apartment in Zurich than buying a home.

This “trend reversal” means that while buying a home in Zurich used to work out cheaper in the long run, continuing to rent an apartment is the more economical option in 2026. 

The reason, according to the bank, is that tenants who live in the same apartment for a number of years benefit from a “retention bonus”, where they end up paying less rent than if they started a new tenancy. 

Anyone who is looking to move or enter into a new rental contract may not benefit as much. Asking rents (i.e. what is advertised) can still “often [be] higher than the cost of homeownership”. Ursina Kubli, head of real estate research at ZKB, explains that “the old rule of thumb that owning is cheaper than renting is therefore only partially true today. The crucial question is whether a move is even necessary.” 

Swiss property prices continue to climb

Despite this catch, anyone looking to rent an apartment in Zurich may have benefited from a recent change. In the second quarter of 2026, rent prices dropped across Switzerland by an average of 0,2 percent and even more in Zurich by 0,4 percent. The reason was due to a reduction in the Swiss mortgage reference interest rate in September 2025. The two are closely linked, as explained by UBS here. 

Zurich property prices, on the other hand, have “continued to rise sharply”. While rent prices in Switzerland fell in the second quarter, property prices went up by 0,4 percent. Comparing the same quarter to the previous year, prices have jumped 2,2 percent. Looking even further back, buying a home in Zurich costs 2,5 times as much as it did 20 years ago.