A stir in Lucerne Catholic cooperative rents out 4.5-room apartment for 4780 francs
In the Bramberg district of Lucerne, a cooperative is causing a stir with luxury apartments. What looks like a contradiction to the charitable mission turns out on closer inspection to be a clever redistribution with a social effect.
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- In Lucerne, the KAB housing cooperative is causing a stir because it rents out luxury attic apartments for up to 4780 francs.
- And this despite its goal of creating "affordable living space".
- It uses the expensive attic apartments to cross-finance significantly cheaper apartments for families and former tenants of the old buildings in the same block.
- The model works: All 20 affordable apartments were snapped up immediately, while the letting of the luxury attics is slower.
A 70-square-metre home for CHF 4250 rent - with a terrace, view of the Reuss and close to the old town: A real estate offer in Lucerne's Bramberg district is currently causing a stir. Not because the price is surprising by city standards - but because of the sender: the KAB housing cooperative, which is committed to "affordable living". This was reported by the "Luzerner Zeitung".
A fiduciary agency advertises the exclusive penthouse apartments in two new KAB Wohnraumgenossenschaft buildings on the relevant real estate platforms. Luxury location, modern architecture and terraces that are almost garden-sized: if you want to live here, you pay up to 4780 francs a month - for 90 square meters of living space plus over 50 square meters of outdoor space.
At first glance, this seems to contradict the principles of the cooperative, which emerged from the Catholic workers' movement. However, the president of the cooperative, Martin Schwegler, provides a surprisingly plausible explanation to the "Luzerner Zeitung" newspaper.
Luxury as a subsidy: a clever redistribution
"The four much more expensive penthouse apartments allow for some very affordable apartments on the lower floors," says Schwegler. The aim: to create affordable living space, especially for former tenants of the demolished old buildings and young families. And it seems to have succeeded: A 3½-room apartment with 80 square meters costs between CHF 1,650 and 2,400 here, depending on the floor - a real bargain by comparison. 4½-room apartments with almost 100 square meters start at 1900 francs.
The math works out: These 20 apartments were snapped up immediately in April. "Without a public tender, we had a list of interested parties with 100 names," says Schwegler. "We could have rented out each apartment several times."
The attics - not popular, but necessary
By contrast, the luxury apartments on the top floor are being let at a more leisurely pace. Nevertheless, they are central to the cooperative's financing model. This is because they make economic sense from the maximum possible utilization of the property. And with their attractive location - directly above the Reuss, with a view of the Musegg and the Alps - they attract a wealthy clientele.
"We are making targeted use of this opportunity to keep the other apartments more affordable," Schwegler emphasizes. In this way, the cooperative is turning its top floors into a kind of social cross-financing model - an architecturally and politically clever move.
