Our October 2026 reading: Swiss residential property prices, SNB mortgage rates and planning applications in the Lausanne and Lavaux-Oron districts. Figures and sources included.
On 30 July the Federal Statistical Office published its residential property price index for the second quarter of 2026. The index stands at 127.7 points (base 100 in the fourth quarter of 2019): +0.7% over the quarter and +3.5% year on year.
The rise is not uniform. Condominium apartments gained 1.6% over the quarter, while single-family houses fell 0.4%. Over the year the gap shows in the index itself: 128.6 points for condominiums against 126.5 for houses, whereas the two segments stood almost level a year earlier (123.5 and 123.2).
This index is national. It gives the trend, not the price of an apartment in Pully or Lutry: for a specific property, only a valuation based on comparable sales counts.
According to the Swiss National Bank, the average ten-year fixed mortgage rate was 2.03% in August 2026, 1.76% over five years and 1.51% over two years. SARON, the basis for variable mortgages, was slightly negative at the end of September (−0.07%).
The reference interest rate published by the Federal Office for Housing on 1 September remains at 1.25%. It is the basis for rents; its next publication is due on 1 December.
For the bank, these rates do not change the affordability calculation: it still tests the cost at a notional rate of 5%. A low rate lightens a household's actual costs, not the threshold for buying.
Between late August and early October, our watch recorded twelve significant planning applications in the Official Gazette of the canton of Vaud: seven in the Lausanne district and five in Lavaux-Oron.
In Lausanne, most involve reworking existing buildings: three buildings raised by a storey, creating eight homes; apartments fitted into attics; a building converted into homes and offices; a block reworked with three extra units; and two demolition-and-rebuild projects.
In Lavaux-Oron, future supply comes from small projects: two Minergie buildings of two homes each, a group of six homes with renovated existing villas, the rebuilding of a villa and of a four-apartment condominium, and the division of one home into two in Servion. Nothing large: the biggest of these projects provides six homes.
Our median prices per square metre, municipality by municipality, will be published here as soon as we have recorded enough comparable sales for them to be reliable. We would rather publish nothing than a figure that does not hold.
If you are thinking of selling, the valuation is complimentary: a written opinion of value within 48 hours of the visit, with the comparables behind it.
Sources: Federal Statistical Office, residential property price index (IMPI), release of 30 July 2026; Swiss National Bank, data.snb.ch, average mortgage rates for August 2026 and SARON for September 2026; Federal Office for Housing, reference rate of 1 September 2026; Official Gazette of the canton of Vaud (Feuille des avis officiels), building permits for the Lausanne and Lavaux-Oron districts, 25 August to 2 October 2026. Reading as of 9 October 2026.