Apartment prices in Zurich are skyrocketing, with property being seen as 'concrete gold'

• Apartments in Zurich cost around $19,000 per square meter, according to data from Properstar.
• Transaction prices for apartments in the Zurich region rose 42.3% between 2013 and 2022.

Property prices in Switzerland's finance capital are skyrocketing, according to a new report by Bloomberg.

The average asking price per square meter for an apartment in Zurich in August was 17,196 Swiss franc (around $18,985), according to data from Properstar, or 15,792 Swiss franc ($17,435), per data from RealAdvisor.

Renting an apartment in the city, meanwhile, cost around 47 Swiss franc ($58) per square meter, according to the Properstar data.

In comparison, buying an apartment in London — traditionally seen as Europe's most expensive property market — in August cost £12,099 ($14,815) per square meter, though renting one was much more expensive at £82 ($100) per square meter, per Properstar's data.

Zurich, surrounded by mountains and next to the picturesque Lake Zurich, is Switzerland's richest city. According to data from Henley & Partners the number of millionaires living in the city has increased by around a third over the past decade. It has 250 residents with a net worth of $100 million or more, and 12 billionaires.

Transaction prices in the Zurich region, which encompasses an area wider than the city, rose 42.3% for apartments and 44.8% for single-family houses between 2013 and 2022, according to data from Wüest Partner, published by the Swiss National Bank.

Prices in Switzerland overall rose by 26.8% for apartments and 39.8% for single-family houses in the same time period.

UBS said in its Global Real Estate Bubble Index 2023, released Wednesday, that an increasing number of high-income earners and ultra-low interest rates in recent years had helped push up property prices.

The bank said that the relationship between purchase prices and rents were "out of balance" and that a significant drop in building permits countrywide supported the perception of property as "concrete gold."

Credit Suisse similarly said in June that the "excessively low" rate of construction activity in the city meant it was unable to keep up with the high level of demand for property. Zurich "in particular" has an acute shortage of housing, it said in a March report. The city says that there are more than 230,000 apartments in the city, with a net of around 2,000 added last year, including renovations.

Zurich has a population of close to 450,000. Swiss Info reported that Google's research center in the city – its largest had outside the US – had pushed up rent in Zurich and is said to be triggering dramatic gentrification. Alongside Google, the city also has offices of large law, banking, insurance, and accountancy firms.