How fast does it close?

Four to eight weeks from reservation to registration on a clean file. The notary’s diary, not the bank, is usually the constraint.

Developer contracts with stage payments tied to construction progress; the developer’s solvency and the land charge securing your payments are the file.

Switzerland · CHF

Buyin Zurich

Buying in Zurich is a reservation, a notarized purchase contract and registration in the Grundbuch — with no transfer tax, cantonal notary scales, and a renewal-fund file that decides the real price.

Geneva

Cantonal notary path

Lex Koller checked

3D map

Lex Kollerpermit regime for non-resident buyers

0% / ~3%transfer tax: Zurich vs Geneva

Reference ratethe mortgage rate that moves rents

20%Lex Weber cap on second homes per commune

What a purchase really costs

CHF 1'000'000 home in Zurich

Notary & land-register (cantonal scale ≈0.5%): CHF 5'000
Cash needed at the notary: CHF 1'005'000

≈ +0.5% over the price. Lex Koller makes Switzerland the tightest foreign-buyer regime on this site: buyers without residence or establishment need cantonal authorization inside federal quotas, and some cantons add their own restrictions. Zurich levies no transfer tax at all — registry fees only — while Geneva charges around 3%. Notary scales are cantonal: confirm the canton’s schedule before wiring.

Rentals run on rules

The rent side, in three lines

Rent increases track the federal reference mortgage rate — a rate cut entitles tenants to a reduction claim.
Deposits cap at three months’ rent (art. 257e CO) and must sit in a blocked account in the tenant’s name.
Geneva and Vaud require the official form for the initial rent and every increase — no form, no increase.

Tenants are organised and the law favours them. Underwrite the reference rate and the form, not the asking rent alone.

Cities

Two cities, 26 cantonal rulebooks

Transfer tax, notary scale and foreign-buyer practice are cantonal. Zurich and Geneva share a currency and almost nothing else about closing a purchase.

The public deed before the cantonal notary is constitutive — without it there is no sale. Between reservation and deed: the register extract showing charges and easements, the renewal fund balance, the house rules and the last owners’ meeting minutes.

Closing costs run around 1% all-in for notary and registry on a typical purchase — the lowest friction of any market on this site, which is exactly why the entry price is the highest.

Mortgages are the Swiss specialty: 20% equity standard, affordability stress-tested at imputed rates near 5%, and amortization rules that reward advice before the reservation deposit.

FAQ

How fast does it close?: Four to eight weeks from reservation to registration on a clean file. The notary’s diary, not the bank, is usually the constraint.
New-build risk?: Developer contracts with stage payments tied to construction progress; the developer’s solvency and the land charge securing your payments are the file.

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