Still important to keep track of it. You can deduct investments that increased the value from the Grundstückgewinnsteuer when you sell the house. Will save you a similiar amount in taxes.
As a rule of thumb (at least in ZH) in case of complete kitchen/bathroom renovation 2/3 of the costs is always accepted as a werterhaltender component without much questions. The other 1/3 you deduct at sale from capital gains calculations
It’s limited by your income - you can’t deduct more than what you earn in the year, and the more you deduct the less the effect.
the grundstuckgewinnsteuer can vary cantonally so check with your canton how does it apply. Additionally in a comparison renting vs buying isn’t a bit unfair to put in eventual tax benefit if you sell the house? Of course situation are very fluid, but for a lot of people I know they buy to have their “own” home and are thinking to pass it down generations. So it is a very variable factor. But we are goign a bit off-topic 
You’re correct regarding some of the tax rules but let’s look at my example with numbers. I currently own an 140m2 Reihenhaus with 4 bedrooms located 10min by bike to Basel center and below are my numbers that make me think that buying was better than renting:
Year of construction: 1927
Purchased in 2018: 730k (market value after renovations ~890k)
Mortgage: 630k
Renovation work during two fiscal years: 60k (we did the project management and contracted half renovation in Germany and half in Switzerland). We also did a lot of work ourselfs (panting, garden,etc…). Hiring an architect and contracting only in Switzerland would have doubled the costs.
Monthly cost:
Total cash invested: 160k (lost of opportunity of investing this cash at 6% is 9600chf/year or 800chf/month)
3 years fix mortgage interest at 0,64%: (4032chf/year or 336chf/month)
Monthly tax benefit estimated: 250chf (interest deduction, renovations, wealth tax,…)
Maintenance work: 100chf/month (I do most of the small maintenance work myself)
Renovation is not a cost as it’s increasing the property value.
Total monthly cost for purchasing: 800+336+100-250= 986chf
Similar houses near our location are up to rent at around ~2600chf/month (excluding nebenkosten)
Yearly savings= 19’368chf (annual return of 12% on the capital invested of 160k; in 7 years my cash available will be similar as if I would have rented)
If you find an old house that is 20% discounted vs market and decide to renovating it doing the project management/work yourself I think that buying would be a better idea than renting a similar place.
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What do you mean by contracting half of the work in Germany? People from Germany where working on site? What about their work permits etc.?
German contractors get a special permit to do the work in Switzerland. They do this very regularly so you don’t need to worry about it. For example purchasing a kitchen in Germany is about half the price of buying it in Switzerland.
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This is very interesting, I didn’t know that. Does it work also for German contractors or all EU ones? What about French or Polish for example?
Really?? a french company for your house ? 
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Hehe, I would prefer German, but not sure if they will be willing to come to French-speaking part of Switzerland ;).
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Of course they’ll do! I have some friends that took companies from Germany and Austria to make works in Geneva. Of course, not for 3 or 4 kCHF but if you have a budget for one or two weeks of work they come.
I saw some of them working here and once you see them working (and finishing the works!! ), the tools, the style and the materials they bring with them, you never will contract French companies again, for sure!
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Good to know, thanks!
This is not renovating but something I checked time ago… Just look the qualities and the company age! Since 1881 !!! https://fertighaus-weiss.de/unternehmen/
Here there is some other examples about houses and prices:
https://medium.com/@BlueFuture/our-9-favourite-german-prefab-companies-e1546474b5bf
Some are available in catalogue for Switzerland.
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Nice but,
no prices.
mmm… in the second link you have some prices:
— starting from 200.000€… etc…
Of course, talking about houses, meters, finishing, etc… starting 200kE could finish in 400kEUR!
Sorry, I read only one link per day. 
They look very nice. I just wonder how insulated they are and if they are really cheaper than normal houses.
Permints might eat part of the price.
To buy a house it really depends on your personal budget and why you want to buy a house instead to a renting flat. For some it is the garden, some like maybe more rooms (because of kids), some don’t like to listen to neighbors above/below. In my mind, in the current house market situation, to buy your own house starts with at least >1 mio. minimum.
Did look up the site where we bought our house 10 years ago. And to my surprise they still are building the same 6,5 rooms homes for a similar price we bought in the past. Yes, the land prices might varies, but usually in this concept you have a little garden and not much land at all. But you buy a home with 6,5 rooms, >150m2 (plus big cellar) for around CHF 600k-700k.
This is not a pitch for them, but for sure this kind of concept is similar through Switzerland with other home sellers. https://www.meinhausgmbh.ch/home/am-baechli-schleitheim/
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Did ask my bank if I could change my LIBOR to a fixed mortgage and the bank evaluated the house now after 10 years new for that. Surprise result was that the house gained worth of around 300k during that time. Of course this is virtual money, as we don’t plan to sell it.
But in my case we invested 200k from 2nd pillar - and made 300k in 10 years and had the advantages a better quality of housing and much lower mortgage costs (around CHF 400.- since few years).
House price 10y ago: CHF 700k - now over CHF 1m.
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If you’re going to remortgage the house, I’d personally take some of the Eigenmittel out and invest it into the stock market. 46% Eigenmittel is quite alot imo
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Nice job! Investing 200k and getting 500k out of it within 10 years is amazing. That’s the cool thing about leveraging 
I would also go up to 67% with the mortgage (so no amortization required) and invest it in the market.
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That is not possible, as I used the 2nd pillar money for that. This 2nd pillar (pension) can only be taken out, if you open your own business as entrepreneur or if you want to buy a house. Also you can only raise the mortgage to invest/enhance or repair your house (here in Switzerland).
It had nothing to do with financially leverage at the time of decision, but was pure pragmatic. We had no cash but a second child on its way. So we looked first for a bigger flat - which would cost us around CHF 2’500-3’000.-. Then the the crazy idea was born maybe to check house prices in addition and use the PK as cash for financing. It worked well and still today financially one of my best decisions (next to join the FIRE path 
).
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