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 2022, the average per capita living space was 54m² for owner-occupied dwellings. This is 13m² 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 age group of household members, 2022

	Tenants		Owners		Other situation1)
Age group	as %	CI*	as %	CI*	as %	CI*
> 25 years	95.4	1.0	(2.0)	(0.6)	2.7	0.8
25-64 years	75.2	0.3	22.9	0.3	1.8	0.1
<25 and 25-64 years	56.6	0.3	40.3	0.3	3.1	0.1
<25 and 65+ years	40.6	6.2	48.2	6.2	(11.2)	(3.6)
25-64 and 65+ years	37.3	0.8	56.3	0.8	6.5	0,4
25-64 and 65+ years	42.8	1.7	47.5	1.7	9.6	1.0
65+ years	45.6	0.5	49.8	0.5	4.6	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.
Sources: 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 since 1970 and has decreased slightly in recent years.

Home ownership rate

	1970	1980	1990	2000	2022	IC*
Switzerland	28.5	30.1	31.3	34.6	35.9	0.2
Zurich	18.5	19.9	20.9	24.8	26.8	0.4
Bern	31.0	32.5	33.0	36.3	38.1	0.6
Lucerne	26.5	27.6	28.4	32.1	33.4	0.6
Uri	43.6	45.5	44.7	48.0	46.1	3.3
Schwytz	40.1	41.1	40.5	44.2	38.5	1.6
Obwalden	53.2	49.2	45.9	46.8	46.8	3.5
Nidwalden	38.9	36.6	34.9	37.5	37.4	3.1
Glarus	49.5	48.9	46.5	49.7	47.0	3.7
Zug	25.4	28.0	29.3	32.6	31.1	1.2
Fribourg	38.0	39.1	39.4	41.8	41.7	1.2
Solothurn	38.8	41.3	42.5	46.8	46.1	1.3
Basel-Stadt	11.7	11.6	11.0	12.6	15.5	1.1
Basel-Landschaft	36.1	37.7	37.9	41.5	43.6	1.2
Schaffhausen	30.3	32.9	34.4	39.1	41.3	2.3
Appenzell Ausserrhoden	43.7	44.4	42.2	45.1	49.1	3.0
Appenzell Innerrhoden	60.9	59.2	55.4	57.6	52.8	6.2
St. Gallen	34.4	35.1	34.4	38.7	39.9	0.9
Graubünden	44.4	44.7	43.5	46.7	43.1	1.6
Aargau	42.8	43.5	43.5	47.7	46.0	0.6
Thurgau	38.6	39.3	38.7	43.3	44.8	0.9
Ticino	34.0	34.2	37.4	36.5	39.0	0.8
Vaud	21.6	24.4	26.7	28.3	30.1	0.5
Valais	55.7	59.7	59.1	61.4	53.8	1.2
Neuchâtel	16.9	20.4	24.9	26.6	30.7	1.0
Geneva	9.0	11.2	13.8	15.8	18.9	0.6
Jura	46.2	49.0	50.0	51.5	48.6	2.6

*Confidence interval 2022 : ± (in percentage points) Sources: FSO - Federal population census, structural survey

Energy and occupancy status

The dwellings of tenants are more often (69.5%) heated by fossil fuels (oil and gas) than those of owners (57.2%). This is partly due to the fact that tenants are more likely to live in large buildings, which are often equipped with oil or gas boilers. Due to their geographical distribution, tenant households are also more often connected to district heating than owner households. On the other hand, the latter are twice as often (23.8%) equipped with heat pumps than the dwellings of tenants (12.4%).

Energy source for heating	Tenant / Cooperative member		Owner
	as %	CI*	as %	CI*
Heat pump1)	12.4	0.2	23.8	0.3
Gas	28.3	0.3	20.5	0.3
Heating oil	41.2	0.3	36.7	0.3
Wood	3.8	0.1	8.0	0.2
Electricity	1.9	0.1	5.7	0.2
District heating	11.2	0.2	4.4	0.1
Solar thermal, other energy sources or no energy source	1.2	0.1	0.9	0.1

1) Energy sources for heat pumps are, for example, air, geothermal energy or water.
*Confidence interval: ± (in percentage points) Source: FS0 - Structural survey

 

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