Mortgage turnaround underway Something is brewing beneath the surface of the real estate market
The abolition of the imputed rental value is likely to have a noticeable impact on the Swiss mortgage market. Although many homeowners are planning additional repayments, low interest rates are curbing the urge to pay off quickly.
08.05.2026, 09:05
08.05.2026, 09:57
SDA
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- Following the abolition of the imputed rental value, fewer Swiss people want to repay their mortgage than announced before the vote.
- The main reason for this is that mortgage interest rates remain low.
- Experts nevertheless expect amortizations in the billions and slower growth in the mortgage market.
The abolition of the imputed rental value is likely to dampen growth in the Swiss mortgage market. According to a survey, around one in four people surveyed with a mortgage are still planning to partially or fully amortize it after the reform comes into force.
Before the referendum in September 2025, this figure was as high as 34% of respondents. Following the adoption of the proposal, this proportion fell to 27%, according to a press release issued by Moneypark and Helvetia on Friday. At the same time, the proportion of those not planning to amortize rose to 29%.
The low mortgage interest rates were cited by 51% of respondents as the most important reason for not amortizing. So far, however, no effects of increased repayments are visible on the market.
Moneypark estimates that mortgages worth CHF 30 to 80 billion could be amortized in the first five years after the abolition of the imputed rental value as of the 2029 tax year. This could partially offset the recent annual growth in the mortgage market of around 3 percent.
There are regional differences: In French-speaking Switzerland, the intention to repay rose slightly, while it fell in German-speaking Switzerland.
