Tenants / owners

The occupancy status statistics describe whether a private household occupies its dwelling as a tenant, an owner or, for example, a farmer or usufructuary. The analyses were conducted in relation to household characteristics and dwellings.

Size of dwelling

Owner-occupied dwellings tend to be more spacious than rental dwellings. This holds true for the surface area of the dwelling, the number of rooms and the living space per occupant. In 2016, the average per capita living space was 52m² for owner-occupied dwellings. This is 11m² more than for rental dwellings (41m²).

Household characteristics

A distinction can be made between owner-occupier households and tenant households with regard to size, nationality, composition and the age group of their members.

Almost three-quarters of one-person households live in rented accommodation. More than half of households comprising four and more people own the home they occupy.

Occupied dwellings by occupancy status and type of household, 2016

	Tenant		Owner		Other situation1)
Household type	as %	CI*	as %	CI*	as %	CI*
Total	59.1	0.2	38.2	0.2	2.7	0.1
One-person households	74.0	0.4	23.2	0.4	2.7	0.2
Non-family household composed of several persons	84.2	1.1	12.5	1.0	3.3	0.6
Couples without children	48.3	0.4	49.6	0.4	2.1	0.1
Couples with child(ren)	47.3	0.3	50.0	0.3	2.6	0.1
One-adult household with child(ren)	66.1	0.8	29.5	0.8	4.4	0.3
Multi-family households 2	58.5	2.4	33.1	2.3	8.4	1.4

1) Other situation: dwelling provided free of charge by relative or employer, employee accommodation (e.g. caretaker dwelling), lease.
2) Households with at least two independent family units.
*Confidence interval: ± (in percentage points)
Sources: FS0 - Structural survey, Federal population census

Occupied dwellings by occupancy status and age group of household members, 2015

	Tenants		Owners		Other situation1)
Age group	as %	CI*	as %	CI*	as %	CI*
> 25 years	94.7	1.1	2.7	0.8	2.6	0.8
25-64 years	72.5	0.3	26.2	0.3	1.2	0.1
<25 and 25-64 years	53.8	0.3	44	0.3	2.2	0.1
<25 and 65+ years	42.1	6.7	45.4	6.9	(12.5)	(4.4)
25-64 and 65+ years	35.7	0.8	58.9	0.8	5.4	0.4
25-64 and 65+ years	40.6	2.1	52.1	2.1	7.3	1.1
65+ years	46.8	0.5	48.2	0.5	5.0	0.2

1) Other situation: dwelling provided free of charge by relative or employer, employee accommodation (e.g. caretaker dwelling), lease.
*Confidence interval: ± (in percentage points)
() Extrapolation based on fewer than 50 observations. The results should be interpreted with caution.
Source: FS0 - Structural survey, Federal population census

Home ownership rate

Swiss households tend to rent rather than own. The home ownership rate, i.e. the number of owner-occupied dwellings in relation to the number of occupied dwellings has been rising continuously since 1970.

Home ownership rate

	1970	1980	1990	2000	2016	IC*
Switzerland	28.5	30.1	31.3	34.6	38.2	0.2
Zurich	18.5	19.9	20.9	24.8	29.4	0.5
Bern	31.0	32.5	33.0	36.3	40.3	0.6
Lucerne	26.5	27.6	28.4	32.1	36.3	0.7
Uri	43.6	45.5	44.7	48.0	50.6	3.5
Schwytz	40.1	41.1	40.5	44.2	43.3	1.7
Obwalden	53.2	49.2	45.9	46.8	47.5	3.6
Nidwalden	38.9	36.6	34.9	37.5	39.9	3.2
Glarus	49.5	48.9	46.5	49.7	50.4	3.5
Zug	25.4	28.0	29.3	32.6	34.5	1.2
Fribourg	38.0	39.1	39.4	41.8	44.3	1.2
Solothurn	38.8	41.3	42.5	46.8	51.1	1.3
Basel-Stadt	11.7	11.6	11.0	12.6	16.5	1.1
Basel-Landschaft	36.1	37.7	37.9	41.5	46.5	1.3
Schaffhausen	30.3	32.9	34.4	39.1	43.6	2.4
Appenzell Ausserrhoden	43.7	44.4	42.2	45.1	49.9	2.9
Appenzell Innerrhoden	60.9	59.2	55.4	57.6	54.5	5.4
St. Gallen	34.4	35.1	34.4	38.7	41.9	0.9
Graubünden	44.4	44.7	43.5	46.7	45.0	1.5
Aargau	42.8	43.5	43.5	47.7	49.6	0.8
Thurgau	38.6	39.3	38.7	43.3	47.9	0.9
Ticino	34.0	34.2	37.4	36.5	40.0	0.8
Vaud	21.6	24.4	26.7	28.3	31.7	0.5
Valais	55.7	59.7	59.1	61.4	56.8	1.2
Neuchâtel	16.9	20.4	24.9	26.6	31.8	1.0
Geneva	9.0	11.2	13.8	15.8	18.5	0.6
Jura	46.2	49.0	50.0	51.5	55.0	2.6

*Confidence interval 2016 : ± (in percentage points) Sources: FSO - Federal population census, structural survey

Statistical sources and concepts

Surveys