Mortgage rates in Switzerland [2024]

They came back to me with a new offer at 1.18 for 10 years as they initially gave me the non negotiated rate. Cannot guarantee you can get the same conditions but if someone wants the name of the bank feel free to drop me a message.

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I did and went through some loops including the mandatory “I need approval from the assistant (to the) regional manager to grant you these exceptional terms" with various banks. Worse experience than buying overpriced furniture, and then they ask me trust them with my modest nest egg or offer other services.
Seems one can do better, even 0.1% does make a difference.

Maybe that’s the point, assuming it means prior business or personal connections?
Or how much of it is mortgage value and affordability? For example to get offered 1.18 right now instead of 1.35?

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From what I saw the basic employee is typically able to grant 0.1% discount while the branch manager will be able to give up to 0.2 / 0.25%. If you have no prior relationship with a bank (no personal connection / no long standing relationship with a bank) I would say going through the broker might be the best option.

I’m not sure if this view really applies to Switzerland and its very low interest rates. If you have a 1M mortgage with 1.5% interest, you’ll only save on 15k yearly costs (before tax) and miss out on 40k+ retirement income.

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Hi all - another quick question. Is there a premium for brand new construction in Switzerland? as in would you expect a price discount between brand new and something which is 5 year old construction? Any approx range in mind? Thanks,

Price is built out of few things

Land value + construction value + market sentiment

I think we can agree that construction value should depreciate over time. But the other two might not always move in same direction.

For first few years I don’t think there would be much depreciation though. But there is always a bit of charm of “new” property.

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Good question. As buyer, I’d expect a discount, since it will have seen some use. As seller, I would ask for a premium since it’s just like new and I might be attached to it :wink:

Personally, I’d pay a premium before it’s being build, so I can customize to my preference, which would is a major reason of buying vs. renting in the first place.

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If it’s already built, I wouldn’t expect a premium for a 5 years difference: valuations in real estate are rather rough, any difference in price for that age range would fall within the margin of error in my view.

I’d expect the price of older buildings to be higher than depreciation would have us believe, depending on the subsidies one can get for renovations: such subsidies would make renovated buildings more accessible than new ones, which could carry in the price people are willing to pay for them.

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Today I was able to offer 1.17% for 10 years with a 0.80% margin.

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Maybe I should have come to you for my mortgage! :wink:

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Swaps down another 7 bps across the curve today. Stunning.

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The 3-5 year bond rate is at 9 basis points.

We pretty much hit zero again. Absolutely crazy

It‘s only a matter of months till we get 10 years for below 1% in my opinion.

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Following your intuition on the trend of the Swap 10 years, I would be tempted to take a 100% SARON mortgage and swap it to a 10 years fixed rate in like 6 months to benefit from a 0.9ish rate for the next 10 years
 Does anyone know if VIAC charges a lot of fees to go from a SARON to a fixed rate?

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If we get a 50 bp cut in 2 weeks, I d say even end of December is possible lol.

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Hi all - 2 more questions:

  1. Vaud Canton has 5% notary related charges. The property dealer suggested that the seller can pay those charges and the transaction can then be for Price*1.05. This would allow us to get higher mortgage and reduce upfront cash payment for notary. Any thoughts or prior experience on this front?

  2. My wife is 100% self-employed with a UN organization on a 3 year contract. Unable to get a clear answer from banks on how her income would be considered for Mortgage calculations.

I think it’s free :grin:

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Not if it’s your primary home. The property dealer is trying to scam you.

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This is what I have from property dealer - transfer duties amount to 3.3%, land registry fees 0.7% which gives 4% in taxes. After that, the notary will cost around 0.5% of the sale price.

Other dealers have also mentioned similar 5% figure. So don’t think she is trying to scam us. It was more of a suggestion given our financial situation. If 5% charges are accurate, seems like a good (if legal) way to reduce downpayment to 21% (20% + 20% of 5%) from 25% (20% +5%)?

I can’t find anything online stating there’s exemptions for land registry tax, transfer tax or notary fees in the canton of Vaud for primary homes.

Do you have more information on that? That’d be very interesting info.

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