In terms of quality, the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic dominated: working from home, particularly in urban areas, has meant that residential quality and a separate workspace at home are more important than before. This led to an increased desire to own a home and also to a partial shift in demand from small to larger apartments, in particular outside core cities. Experience shows that these days couples forgo 2.5-room apartments in favour of those with at least 3.5 rooms – and preferably, if they can afford it, 4.5 rooms. This is also borne out by the figures: in the canton of Zurich, the proportion of 1- to 2.5-room apartments among vacant apartments rose to 27 %; a year earlier, this figure stood at 22 % (2019: 20 %). However, this is also due in part to the fact that in recent years investors have increasingly been developing small apartments. Overall, the vacancy rate fell in 2021 compared with the previous year due to high demand in nearly every sub-region of Greater Zurich. At 0.72 %, the canton of Zurich has a very low level compared with the national average of 1.54 %. As expected, the city of Zurich had the lowest vacancy rate. Although the vacancy rate rose slightly in 2021, to 0.17 %, the market is still extremely tight. Little wonder then that the advertised net rents per m2 largely climbed or remained the same in the regions of Greater Zurich in 2021 compared with the previous year. For the most part, the duration of rental advertisements fell – further evidence of enormous demand. Micro-location became more important in everyday marketing. Depending on transport links, noise levels, proximity to green spaces and neighbourhood characteristics, a different marketing concept is required for properties that are 100 to 200 metres apart. When it comes to defining target groups, the more precisely the apartments are tailored (layouts, amenities) to them, the better.

There continued to be strong demand in the owner-occupied market in Greater Zurich in 2021. Due to limited supply, prices rose everywhere in the area, with increases of as much as 12 % in the individual regions. The enormous demand is also reflected in advertising duration, which declined for advertisements for properties in nearly every region. It continues to be low in Zurich, at 21 days. The supply shortage has been worsened by the investor focus on rental properties in recent years and by longer permit processes, partly as a result of the pandemic. This is reflected by the fact that about 23 % fewer condominiums were advertised in the second half of 2021 than in the first half of the year. There was an increase in condominium sales through bidding processes in 2021.