Why is it so hard to rent an apartment in Zurich and what can expats do about it?

Expats in Zurich who would like to rent an apartment often face great difficulties to do so. Why is it so hard for expats to rent an apartment in Zurich? And what can expats do in order to find an apartment? This article provides you with answers.

Zurich has become a global hot spot. The city does not only attract expats from abroad but also Swiss from all over the country. Expats and Swiss living in Zurich enjoy a very high quality of life. The economy is booming even though the world has gone through a global financial crisis, unemployment is low and the salaries are high. These facts attract people from all over the world and from within Switzerland. As all of them need to rent or buy apartments or houses in Zurich, the offer of rental apartments and rooms is much higher than the demand so prices raise.

Expats in Zurich know that Switzerland and especially Zurich is already a very expensive place to live in. The shortage of apartments to rent in Zurich makes it even worse. Real Estate investors have discovered that a lot of people coming to Zurich, especially expats from abroad, are highly qualified, earn a lot and are therefore able to afford to rent apartments in the luxury segment. That is why a lot of apartments in the high end segment were being built during the last decade which made the shortage of affordable apartments to rent even worse.

Expats in Zurich have additional disadvantages to find an apartment to rent: they don’t speak the local language and are new to Zurich. flatsforexpats.com‘s idea how to make the flat search in Zurich easier for expats is to connect Zurich expats who leave their apartment or room in a shared flat to expats who are looking for a flat. As it is common in Switzerland that you have to find a new tenant when leaving your apartment, the expat leaving has the chance to select the new tenant among other expats. This is one thing expats in Zurich can do about the problem of finding an apartment to rent: publish apartment ads on flatsforexpats.com exclusively and give other expats in Zurich the exclusive chance to rent the apartment.

Click here if you would like to place a rental apartment ad for free.

Click here if you would like to see which apartments and rooms in shared apartments from other expats are available on flatsforexpats.com.