Switzerland is structurally underbuilding housing. Year after year, fewer homes are built than population growth requires, especially in urban regions like Geneva, Zurich, Lausanne, Basel, and Zug. In Geneva alone, annual needs are estimated at 3,000–3,500 units, an amount that is consistently not met.
One thing leads to another.
Because supply cannot keep up with demand, rents and property prices keep rising, even with higher interest rates. As a result, developers become more selective. Fewer projects are launched, but those that go ahead are larger, higher-end, and higher-margin. The market naturally shifts from mid-quality construction toward top-quality projects.
At the same time, limited new-build capacity pushes the market toward renovation and densification. Existing buildings are upgraded, extended vertically, or converted to new uses. Energy renovations and structural upgrades become the norm rather than the exception.
What determines success?
- Products that reduce technical, regulatory, and lifecycle risk
- Early involvement before specifications are fixed
- Technical advisory selling, not quote-only selling
- Strong local distributors or specifiers
- Canton and language-region depth, not broad national coverage
What changes in the buying and selling process?
With fewer projects and higher stakes:
- Developers and institutional investors hold more control
- Suppliers face deeper screening and performance expectations
- Relationship strength matters more than spot pricing
- For manufacturers, this favors quality over volume.
In short, Switzerland’s housing underbuild concentrates opportunity. Fewer projects, higher requirements, and longer relationships work in favour of specialised, high-quality producers.
Nordic can help you develop your markets in Switzerland and navigate the complex cultural, cantonal, regional and operational particularities. We start by mapping where demand is strongest, by canton and by building segments. From there, we identify the developers and institutional investors driving new-build and renovation activity, and then select the channel partners and specifiers best placed to win and deliver those projects with you.
We hope this short report has made the Swiss market clearer and helped you size the opportunity for your company.
The next step is practical. Define your needs and the outcomes you expect, then we build the route to market around that. Contact us to get started!
