How do Swiss families live?

What does your home look like - tidy? Or does creative chaos reign? Who dominates the picture of your flat or house? Is it you, the parents, who are responsible for the furnishings? Or is it your children who are playing in more and more rooms? What is hanging on the wall? Art, children's drawings, family photos or memories of your wild youth? How much space do you have? Do you rent or own the house you live in? How we live says a lot about what is important to us, what we find beautiful, but also how we organise ourselves and how much money we have at our disposal. «People have their needs, their wishes and their budget. The key question is whether the housing on offer can meet these needs and at what price,» says Ernst Hauri, Director of the Federal Office for Housing. The good news is that the vast majority of the Swiss population feel comfortable within their own four walls. This was determined by the Zurich-based consulting agency Wüest & Partner on behalf of the NZZ (Immo Barometer 2015). Wüest & Partner narrowed down its survey data to families for the Swiss parents' magazine Fritz+Fränzi. The most important result: 97 per cent of the 782 families surveyed like their home «quite well» or «very well».

Dream homes and life plans

At the latest when children are on the way, most couples begin to consider whether their current living situation meets their new needs. The search for a flat or house becomes mixed up with general life planning. In which environment should the children grow up? How will they get to school, where can they play with their friends? How far is it to work and what childcare options are available if mum and dad work outside the home? Of course, it should be nice at home, you want to feel comfortable.

However, there are also a number of practical and organisational considerations that determine where you end up living. Anyone who studies the range of furnishing catalogues, home blogs and TV programmes on the subject of building and living quickly gets the impression that living, and especially the aesthetics of living, are more important than ever. Ernst Hauri, who holds a doctorate in ethnology, does not believe this. «Housing has always been very important. It's just that the demands and what's on offer have changed. In the past, some families were happy with a three-room flat, but today they need at least four rooms.»
For this dossier, we visited three families in German-speaking Switzerland. What they all have in common is that their flat or house did not become their home by chance:

•  Die Familie Nigg suchte ein Haus zum Kauf und wurde im Zürcher Oberland fündig

•  Die Familie Sommer Häller wollte vom Land zurück in die Stadt, hatte von Anfang an eine Wohnbaugenossenschaft in Luzern im Auge, deren Mieterin sie schliesslich wurde. 

• Die Patchwork-Familie Chantal Portenier/Fausto Cartillone in Uitikon ZH malte und dekorierte mit viel Engagement, bis ihre Mietwohnung zu ihnen passte. Und das zweimal, weil sie unerwartet doch noch eine grössere Wohnung beziehen konnte. 

Swiss households have been taking up more and more living space since the 1970s: whereas in 1980 the figure was 34 square metres per person, by 2013 it had risen to 45 square metres. However, a large part of the increase is due to the fact that more and more people are living alone or as a couple without children. Nevertheless, we are at a turning point in terms of flat size, Hauri surmises: «The increase has slowed considerably and perhaps it will soon go in the other direction.» Many very large and expensive flats are already empty and some are being converted into several smaller units.

The price of living

A small house in the countryside with a garden remains the dream of many families. The detached house has never made ecological sense, but space is slowly becoming scarce. In addition, more and more families today lack the means to buy a house, as a Credit Suisse study on the Swiss property market in 2016 showed. According to Wüest & Partner, the number of newly built detached houses fell from 15,000 to 7,500 between 2000 and 2015, while interest in condominiums has increased. More and more couples are also buying a flat instead of an entire house - not least because there are practically no detached houses for sale in cities. Nevertheless, 55 out of every 100 families living in Switzerland still live in a detached house, according to the Immo-Barometer. This puts them well above the average for the population as a whole, with only 20 out of 100 people living under the same roof without neighbours. If the family household consists of four people, 54 out of 100 families have five to six and a half rooms available; 33 out of 100 families have four to four and a half rooms. How families want to live in Switzerland is shown by those who are looking for a flat or house: Just under 28 per cent are looking for a rental flat, 37 per cent for a house. Whether to rent or buy is first and foremost a question of the means at one's disposal.

A little house in the countryside with a garden remains the dream of many families.

For years, low mortgage interest rates have ensured that owners' housing costs are lower than those of tenants. Nevertheless, you need a certain level of assets and income to even be considered for a home loan. Both home prices and rents have been rising since the property crash in the early 1990s. Between 2000 and 2015 alone, the price of a detached house in Switzerland rose by an average of 60 per cent, while condominiums became over 90 per cent more expensive. Rents rose by 50 per cent in the same period. Nevertheless, according to an analysis by the Federal Statistical Office, the proportion of income spent on rent hardly increased between 1998 and 2011. While the middle class spends just under 19 per cent of gross income on rent, the figure is over 30 per cent for low incomes. The Federal Office for Housing writes on its website that for low incomes, the satisfaction of other basic needs is jeopardised from a rent burden of 25 per cent.

Place of residence and routes

Many young families are still moving to the countryside or at least to slightly greener urban centres. However, cities have also become more attractive and offer family-friendly living space. «Traffic calming, residential streets and 30 km/h zones have made entire neighbourhoods more liveable,» Ernst Hauri is convinced. He also suspects that more parents today want to stay where there is something going on. Where do most families live in Switzerland: in cities, villages or urban centres? If you look at the statistics on household sizes, it is noticeable that the proportion of households with three or more people is smaller in large cities than in municipalities with a few thousand inhabitants. However, many small municipalities are also part of an urban agglomeration. According to the Federal Statistical Office, 84 per cent of the Swiss population live in an urban environment. This clear majority also includes the majority of families. An important criterion for the choice of place of residence is where the parents work and where the children go to school.

While the commute to work should simply not take too long, most parents still want their children to be able to walk to school - which is the case for seven out of ten lower school pupils. On the other hand, working away from home is a reality for seven out of ten employees. The average distance to work is 14.4 kilometres. The average journey to school in Switzerland is 1.6 kilometres long, with more than two thirds of all pupils travelling less than one kilometre to school. Educator Marco Hüttenmoser warns parents not to focus solely on the distance to school. The accessibility of places where children can play with other children is just as important. If you want your children to spend a lot of time outdoors with their peers, you should look for a home in an area with little traffic. If mum or dad has to go with the children every time they want to go outside, the amount of time they spend away from home will be massively reduced.

The value of the neighbourhood

For children to enjoy being outside, they generally need playmates. This is where large housing developments come into their own. High-density construction - creating living space for many people on a relatively small area - is attractive for families and especially children, as long as the outdoor areas of the housing estate are spacious and have room for children's games. Many parents also appreciate the fact that they can keep an eye on their children from the balcony. However, the fate of many family-friendly housing estates is that families with young children move in at the beginning, who then grow up together and eventually leave their parents' homes, while their parents remain in the family home for years to come. If new families with young children move in, they may find it difficult to find neighbouring children of the same age. For Marco Hüttenmoser, one thing is clear: a child-friendly neighbourhood is also a family-friendly neighbourhood. Where children feel comfortable, their parents also live well. Last but not least, children bring people together in the neighbourhood - many a cosy barbecue evening is the result of children playing together in the afternoon.

According to the Immo-Barometer, the family-friendliness of the neighbourhood is a decisive factor for 41 percent of the families surveyed when choosing a domicile. Where families like to live is also a question of preference and lifestyle. Proximity to childcare facilities is particularly important for families in which both parents work outside the home. «Families with small children have very different needs to families with teenagers,» says Ernst Hauri. As the children get older, the demands on housing and the neighbourhood change. The child-friendly neighbourhood can then become terribly boring, the distance to the city a source of frustration for young people. If the children no longer want to sleep together in the same room, changes become necessary. Some parents then have to give up their beloved «office», music or TV room. In adolescence, many teenagers want even more privacy, with their own access to the outside or a floor to themselves.

Residential streets, 30 km/h: many cities have become more attractive for families.

Only those who have the space or the possibility to make structural changes can fulfil such wishes. While the future of children growing up and becoming more independent inevitably rolls towards every family, there are social changes that also have an impact on housing. Divorced parents and patchwork families, for example, are interested in flats that can be used flexibly if either the children, father or mother commute between two residences. According to an ETH study, 28 per cent of the Swiss population already live in at least two places, including many who commute between their place of work and their family home. Due to «multi-local living», even more living space is required overall, which is regularly empty for a few days. It is quite possible that the property market will serve this clientele with special residential properties in the foreseeable future. It will be interesting to see what impact the decline in households with three or more people will have. Will it be easier to find a family flat in future because there are fewer families? Or will the large flats quickly be taken up by couples and singles who are happy to have more space? One thing is certain: The housing needs of the future will also be largely met by the housing supply of the present. «One per cent of the housing stock is renewed every year,» says Ernst Hauri. Most of the houses in which families will be living in ten or twenty years' time are therefore already standing.

How does «child-friendly living» work?

Children play everywhere - it is therefore also important how the space in front of the front door is designed. What does this space look like? Are there landscapes, plants, play equipment? Meeting and exercise areas as well as a communal area are important (sandpit, tree houses, hiding places). Children love changing structures, digging and building. Loose raw materials such as branches, stones and water are particularly suitable for this. Children must be able to move freely outside. Access to the outdoor living space must be possible for children of all ages. Children get bigger. A four-year-old child has a different radius of action than a twelve-year-old. This also needs to be taken into account.
More information: www.spielraum.ch

Property Barometer 2015

Satisfied families

97 per cent of families in Switzerland are satisfied with their home.
90 per cent are satisfied with the child-friendliness of the neighbourhood and 94 per cent with the proximity to schools, kindergartens and daycare centres.
Intention to move
36 per cent of respondents would like to move or are actively looking for a new home. 82 per cent of those wanting to move for family reasons, 79 per cent are looking for a larger home and 69 per cent are dissatisfied with the surroundings, location or neighbourhood.
Residential properties in demand
37 per cent of families looking to relocate are looking for a house to buy, 28 per cent for a rental flat. 30 per cent are looking for 4 to 4.5 rooms, 55 per cent 5 to 6.5 rooms and 75 per cent want at least 110 square metres of living space. The child-friendliness
of the neighbourhood is a decisive factor for 39 percent of those looking to move and «also important» for 47 percent.
Source: Study 2015 Immo-Barometer NZZ Wüest & Partner for Fritz+Fränzi

To the author

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