Swiss Real Estate Remains the Quiet Anchor of Family Office Wealth
Affluent families and their family offices across the German-speaking world continue to favour real estate, even at a time when many institutional investors are hesitating or scaling back their commitments. According to the Kingstone Family Office Real Estate Report 2025, which covers family offices in Switzerland, Germany, Austria and Luxembourg, an average of 56.5 per cent of net wealth is allocated to property. Equities account for just under 20 per cent. The figures underline how deeply real estate is embedded in the strategies of investors who think in decades rather than quarters.
The prominence of property in these portfolios has less to do with short-term market conditions and more with the fundamental nature of the asset class. Families seeking to preserve and grow wealth over generations favour tangible assets that offer stability, low volatility and a high degree of control. In Switzerland, where residential property has long been in strong demand, this approach has produced resilient portfolios that serve as the backbone of long-term wealth planning.
Wealth driven by different engines
According to the International Monetary Fund, Switzerland’s nominal GDP per capita will reach around USD 111,000 in 2025, while Singapore’s stands at USD 157,200, placing the city-state among the global elite. Both countries are, undeniably, prosperous. Switzerland, however, remains the benchmark for innovation. In the 2024 edition of the World Intellectual Property Organization’s Global Innovation Index, it claims the top spot once again, with Singapore ranked among the top five. Switzerland’s dominance rests on a rare combination of academic excellence, strong private-sector research intensity and robust institutional quality.
The gap is even more pronounced in digital competitiveness. In 2025, Switzerland reached the number-one position in the IMD World Digital Competitiveness Ranking for the first time, ahead of the United States and Singapore. IMD attributes this to the depth of the country’s “knowledge capital”, the strength of its education system and its “future readiness”, the ability of firms to absorb and apply new technologies quickly.
But IMD accompanies its praise with a warning: leading today does not guarantee leadership tomorrow. The institute highlights risks stemming from trade fragmentation, skilled-labour shortages and the sluggish pace of Switzerland’s digital transformation. Such concerns echo earlier comments by Avenir Suisse director Peter Grünenfelder, who noted in a 2023 report that Switzerland remains “highly competitive”, but that “a culture of complacency is increasingly evident”, a risk, he argues, that should not be underestimated.
Property as the Core of Family Office Portfolios
Kingstone’s study is based on a modest dataset, as only 32 of the 1,260 family offices contacted provided detailed information. Even so, the direction is clear: around 60 per cent of respondents intend to expand their real estate exposure. The contrast with global patterns is striking. Worldwide, equities and private equity dominate family office portfolios, while property plays a minor role at about nine per cent, according to the 2023 Family Office Investment Insights report by Goldman Sachs. In the German-speaking region the weighting is reversed. Real estate is not an optional addition but the foundation of long-term asset allocation, particularly in Switzerland.
Structural Scarcity in the Swiss Housing Market
Conditions in the Swiss residential market reinforce this preference. The Federal Statistical Office put the country’s vacancy rate at 1.08 per cent on 1 June 2024, the lowest level in a decade. A total of 51,974 flats stood empty, 5.1 per cent fewer than the previous year. Since 2020, the number of vacant homes has fallen by roughly one third. The cantons of Zug, Obwalden and Geneva recorded the tightest markets, with vacancy rates between 0.39 and 0.46 per cent, well below the equilibrium level of around 1.3 per cent estimated by analysts such as Wüest Partner. Even in the canton of Jura, where vacancies approached three per cent, the figure is still markedly lower than in previous years.
This scarcity is pushing rents higher. Wüest Partner measured a year-on-year increase of 6.4 per cent in asking rents in the second quarter of 2024. The trend is most pronounced in Zurich, Geneva, Basel and Lausanne, where strong population growth, economic activity and limited construction are exacerbating pressures. A report published by the Federal Council in February 2025 notes that the housing shortage has intensified continuously since 2020. The analysis highlights persistent rent increases in major cities and a widening shortage in alpine tourism regions. Towns such as Davos, Zermatt, St Moritz, Verbier and Gstaad face particularly acute constraints, with high seasonal demand and limited development opportunities. UBS reports in its Alpine Property Focus 2025 that St Moritz and Verbier command prices of more than 22,000 Swiss francs per square metre, among the highest in the Alps. Local authorities in Davos and Zermatt regularly warn of insufficient affordable housing for residents and seasonal workers.
Professional Investors Endorse the Market
Despite global uncertainty, professional property investors continue to view Switzerland as one of Europe’s most attractive markets. According to the EY Real Estate Trend Barometer Switzerland 2025, 93 per cent of respondents rate the country as attractive or very attractive. Around 60 per cent expect investment volumes to rise. Three quarters focus their activities heavily or predominantly on residential assets, suggesting that institutional and private investors are converging in their assessment of the market.
Julius Baer, in its Property Market Report for the second quarter of 2025, notes price increases of 4.5 per cent for condominiums and 7.9 per cent for single-family homes compared with a year earlier. The bank attributes this to immigration, stable employment, lower interest rates and a persistently tight supply. PwC observes rental growth of 0.4 per cent in the third quarter of 2025, equivalent to 3.6 per cent over the year. Zurich, Geneva and Basel again stand out as the most dynamic urban centres.
It is notable that the arguments advanced by institutional investors are almost identical to those that family offices have emphasised for years. The EY study’s authors point out that residential property offers a combination of steady income, inflation protection and long-term capital appreciation, a profile that has long anchored multi-generational wealth strategies.
Discretion Shapes the Swiss Landscape
Despite the central role of real estate, the Swiss family office landscape remains difficult to decipher. Wealth is often held through holding companies, foundations or specialist property vehicles, limiting transparency. Nevertheless, documented examples reveal consistent patterns.
Abegg & Co in Zurich, one of the country’s oldest single family offices, has managed a broadly diversified portfolio for generations, which public sources indicate includes residential and commercial real estate. REBA Immobilien AG positions itself explicitly as a family-office-style structure focused on commercial assets and executes off-market transactions on behalf of a linked Swiss family. Genico Family Office in Zug combines corporate holdings with a portfolio of high-quality residential and commercial properties in Switzerland and abroad. These cases illustrate that property is not incidental but a defining element of wealth management.
International Deals Make the Dynamics Visible
While discretion dampens visibility in Switzerland, the influence of private capital is easier to observe abroad. A prominent example is the acquisition of Munich’s Fünf Höfe quarter by Athos, the family office of the Strüngmann brothers. German trade publications report a purchase price of more than 700 million euros. Transactions of this scale highlight the growing role of private wealth in property markets. When institutional investors retreat because of regulatory or balance-sheet constraints, family offices often step in, supported by long investment horizons and internal expertise.
Two Investment Philosophies
Two distinct investment philosophies can be observed within the family office sector. The first consists of traditional houses whose wealth has been built up over generations. Their priority is capital preservation, and real estate serves mainly as a stable, low-risk pillar. According to Kingstone, such investors accept rental yields of up to 4.5 per cent.
The second group comprises younger family offices with backgrounds in technology, private equity or financial services. For them, property plays a more active, return-driven role. Around 28 per cent target yields above 6 per cent and pursue value-add strategies, development projects or international co-investments. Both approaches treat real estate as a long-term asset that is actively managed through densification, refurbishment and selective acquisitions. The divergence lies in risk appetite rather than in the importance of the asset class.
Implications for the Swiss Market
Taken together, the data paint a consistent picture. Switzerland’s vacancy rate remains well below equilibrium and the number of empty homes has fallen sharply since 2020. Rents continue to rise, particularly in urban centres and tourism regions. Professional investors regard the country as highly attractive, and prices for high-quality residential and income-producing properties are edging higher. The combination of structural scarcity, steady demand, economic resilience and political stability creates an environment in which real estate can perform the role it occupies in many family portfolios: a stable, predictable and multi-generational anchor of wealth.
References (APA, translated)
- Federal Statistical Office. (2024). Vacant dwellings in Switzerland as of 1 June 2024. https://www.bfs.admin.ch
- Federal Council. (2025). Report: Rent developments and housing shortages in Switzerland. https://www.admin.ch
- EY. (2025). Real Estate Trend Barometer Switzerland 2025. https://www.ey.com
- Goldman Sachs. (2023). Family Office Investment Insights 2023. https://www.goldmansachs.com
- Julius Baer. (2025). Property Market Report Switzerland Q2 2025. https://www.juliusbaer.com
- Kingstone Real Estate. (2025). Family Office Real Estate Report 2025.
- PwC Switzerland. (2025). Immospektive: Quarterly Report Q3 2025. https://www.pwc.ch
- UBS. (2025). Alpine Property Focus 2025. https://www.ubs.com
- Wüest Partner. (2024). Immo-Monitoring Switzerland: Rent and vacancy developments Q2 2024. https://www.wuestpartner.com
- Zermatt Tourism & Municipality of Zermatt. (2024–2025). Reports on housing conditions for seasonal workers and residents.
- Municipality of Davos. (2024). Housing market developments and the second-home sector in Davos.
- Deutsche Immobilien Zeitung. (2024). Reports on the acquisition of Munich’s Fünf Höfe complex by Athos (Strüngmann).
