A new study by Watson has revealed the cheapest and most expensive neighbourhoods in Switzerland to rent a house or apartment. While the usual suspects of Zurich and Geneva remain prevalent, some areas of the country are still more expensive than others.

Cheapest and most expensive places to rent in Switzerland

Looking at the rent prices of Swiss cantons, we can see that Zug has the highest prices in Switzerland on average. However, a new study by Watson has gone beyond the 26 cantons and has divided the country into 101 regions. 

These regions are created by finding out where most people in certain neighbourhoods commute to for work. The residential and working areas are then combined into one locality and are meant to show where one working community ends and another begins. Watson then looked at the median prices of 3,5, 4,5 and 5,5 room apartments on Homegate in regions with over 50 listings and compared each accordingly.

Cheapest and most expensive places for a 3,5 room apartment in Switzerland

The study found that the regions around Geneva remain the most expensive for 3,5 room apartments. Of all the working regions, Le Grand-Saconnex was on top with a median price of 4.950 Swiss francs a month. While this figure was deemed to be an outlier, the sheer number of expensive listings meant it still took the top spot. Vernier-Lancy and Thônex–Chêne-Bougeries rounded out the top three.

The cheapest 3,5 room apartment could be found in the Swiss mountains, specifically in Biasca, Canton Ticino. There, a family only has to pay 950 Swiss francs a month for their home. Second place went to Tramelan-Valbirse and third went to Delémont, both of which are in Jura.

Cheapest and most expensive place to rent a 4,5 room apartment revealed

4,5 room apartments are where we see the usual suspects of Geneva, Zurich and Küsnacht–Meilen (Zurich Goldcoast) take the podium places, with prices between 2.990 and 3.400 Swiss francs. This is no surprise, as the two cities have been regularly ranked as some of the most expensive places to live in the world, let alone in Switzerland.

The cheapest places to rent were dominated by rural or mountainous areas, with La Chaux-de-Fonds in Canton Neuchâtel being the cheapest with a median price of 1.045 Swiss francs a month. Brig-Gils in Valais and Biasca Canton Ticino were second and third.

Zurich the most expensive place to rent a large house

Finally, the most expensive 5,5 room apartments in the country can be found in Switzerland’s metropolis: Zurich. Prices in the city centre were in excess of 4.275 Swiss francs a month, with rivals Geneva and Nyon just pipped to the post.

The cheapest areas for large properties were Brig-Gils (Canton Valais), La Chaux-de-Fonds and Widnau-Au (Canton St. Gallen), with prices ranging from 1.435 to 1.655 Swiss francs a month.

Find out how expensive your local area is

For more information on methodology, and to see how your locality did on the ranking, check out the Watson website.