The Federal Council has dated the end of imputed rental value to 1 January 2029. As mortgage rates hit bottom before turning up, the canton of Vaud imposes a new lease on every tenant and Geneva watches rents surge each time a flat changes hands.
A policy rate pinned at zero, a tax reform aimed at 2029, and two French-speaking cantons where landing a flat has become a small victory. Summer 2026 is drawing a Swiss property market settled as much at the tax office as at the notary.
FEDERALThe Federal Council set the course at its meeting of 1 April 2026. The abolition of the imputed rental value, approved at the ballot box on 28 September 2025, will take effect on 1 January 2029. Until then, nothing changes on the tax return. After that, the arithmetic of ownership is rewritten.
The reform applies to primary residences only. In return for dropping a tax levied on rent an owner never actually collects, several familiar deductions close up.
The maintenance-cost deduction disappears, except for rented homes. Mortgage interest relief is narrowed to first-time buyers and landlords. To offset the shortfall, cantons will be allowed to levy a real tax on second homes.
| Deduction | Today | From 2029 |
|---|---|---|
| Maintenance costs, primary residence | Deductible | Removed, except rented homes |
| Mortgage interest | Broadly deductible | Limited to first-time buyers and landlords |
| Imputed rental value | Taxed | Removed for the primary residence |
| Second homes | Current regime | Possible cantonal real tax |
2029 feels distant, yet it already reshapes any ten-year plan. A facade job or an energy retrofit scheduled after 2029 on an unrented primary residence will no longer be deductible. In plain terms, the timing of major works is worth settling now, because the window for deductions closes at the end of 2028.
FEDERALThe Swiss National Bank has held its policy rate at 0.00% since 20 June 2025, a stance confirmed in late 2025. The reference SARON sits at -0.04% on 17 July 2026.
The slide in mortgage rates that began in late 2022 is running out of steam. The next move is no longer a cut but a gradual climb, worth factoring in for anyone negotiating financing right now.
That turn goes hand in hand with a 3.5% rise in owner-occupied home prices in the first quarter of 2026. UBS expects 2 to 3% growth a year through 2027.
The vacancy rate in Vaud has fallen to 0.94%, down from 1.01% a year earlier. That is well below the 1.5% legal shortage threshold. The canton has published its updated list of districts in shortage, on a trend that has been worsening for years.
A change now touches every Vaud lease. A new RULV framework contract, the cantonal rental usages, became binding on 1 July 2026, with no fresh signature required from either party. The Confederation confirmed its binding force through decree FF 2026 1075 of 22 April 2026. The text runs until 30 June 2032.
With a vacancy rate of 0.34%, or 3.4 empty homes per thousand, Geneva remains the tightest canton in Switzerland. That scarcity shows up straight on the rent slip.
According to the cantonal statistics office, between May 2025 and May 2026, a home that changes tenant sees its rent jump 7.9% on average. Over the same span, the general rise across the free rental stock stays contained at 1.3%, after 1.9% the year before.
The gap tells one story. In Geneva, the rent takes off the moment a flat comes free, far more than for the sitting tenant. Moving house comes at a price.
For an owner, the calendar runs at two speeds. 2029 for tax, right now for rates. For a French-speaking tenant, most of the rules are still written at the cantonal level, from Vaud's new lease to Geneva's squeeze. Two compass needles to keep in view before the next call, whether it is a purchase, a sale or a lease renewal.