Here you will find answers to the most frequently asked questions about zueriwohnung.ch, the portal for first-time lettings of apartments in the city of Zurich and re-lettings in large new buildings.
1. I am looking for an apartment but can’t afford a subscription. What can I do?
Get in touch with us via the contact form. We will be happy to find a solution to support you, for example with a free subscription.
2. I am only interested in one listing and do not want to take out a subscription. How can I proceed?
Get in touch with us via the contact form. We will be happy to provide you with all the details of the desired advertisement by e-mail. You can also find slightly older advertisements free of charge in the archive.
3. Which apartments can be found on zueriwohnung.ch?
Zueriwohnung.ch lists new first lettings from private investors, cooperatives and apartments in the city of Zurich every day. The site is updated daily. However, as most administrations do not work at weekends, new advertisements are rarely published at weekends.
Zueriwohnung.ch has no relationship with the landlords of the apartments, but researches the advertisements independently. We cannot guarantee completeness. If you have questions about the apartments themselves, please contact the landlords. We accept no responsibility for the content of external sites.
Zueriwohnung.ch generally focuses on first-time lettings with at least 5 residential units. Experience has shown that new tenants are only significantly more likely to be offered a property above this size than with individual lettings. The focus of Zueriwohnung.ch is on the city of Zurich and its immediate surroundings, but larger projects in a somewhat wider radius are also taken into account. These include projects in municipalities such as Spreitenbach AG and Baden AG, Rapperswil-Jona SG, Wädenswil ZH or Winterthur ZH.
4. How many apartments are advertised on zueriwohnung.ch?
There is no fixed number of apartments that are published each day. On average, between 50 and 100 apartments in the city and region of Zurich are put up for initial rental each week. Whenever possible, these are published immediately on zueriwohnung.ch.
5. Why do I need zueriwohnung.ch when there are portals such as homegate.ch or Flatfox?
Many administrations – but also cooperatives and the city of Zurich – do not advertise large first-time rentals on real estate platforms at all or only at a very late stage when they are still looking for tenants for any last vacant apartments. Instead, first-time lettings are generally advertised first on the websites of administrations, cooperatives or the City of Zurich. By the time the last advertisements appear on the major platforms, the good apartments are long gone.
There are various reasons for this. On one hand, demand in the city and region of Zurich is so high that even advertisements on the administration’s own portals can find enough interested parties for new apartments. On the other hand, portals such as homegate.ch, immoscout24.ch or flatfox.ch charge fees that landlords of apartments are happy to save.
Zueriwohnung.ch, on the other hand, lists new offers that are only advertised on the websites of real estate agents, cooperatives or the city of Zurich within hours. This is possible because we know the real estate market and its players very well and research it daily. The advertisements you find on zueriwohnung.ch are generally not yet published on any major real estate portal. This gives you a big advantage when looking for an apartment – because many landlords simply give the apartments to those who apply first. This is why zueriwohnung.ch gives you a big advantage when it comes to finding an apartment in Zurich.
6. Is zueriwohnung.ch free of charge?
The three most recent first lettings in the city and region of Zurich are accessible without registration, except for a few details. This should give you an insight into our offer. However, if you would like to have access to the entire offer, you can take out a subscription from just CHF 5 per month.
7. How much does an apartment cost in Zurich?
This question is difficult to answer and depends very much on the location, the landlords and the furnishings of the apartments. An apartment from the city of Zurich or an apartment from a cooperative is often significantly cheaper than an apartment from a private company. At the same time, there are often regulations for apartments in cooperatives or apartments in the city of Zurich – for example, the maximum income or the minimum number of people who must live in an apartment. There are also major differences between cooperatives: apartments from tenant cooperatives are often cheaper than those from building cooperatives.
If you are looking for an affordable apartment in Zurich, you are therefore best served by cooperatives or an apartment in the city of Zurich. But beware: in order to be allowed to rent an apartment owned by the city of Zurich itself, you often not only have to meet occupancy and income requirements, but you often also have to have been resident in the city or canton of Zurich for a certain period of time.
8. Where should I live in Zurich?
Where you want to live depends on what you are looking for: Kreis 4 and 5 around the Langstrasse quarter are very lively and densely populated. They offer a rich variety of urban life. The same applies to Kreis 3 with the trendy Wiedikon quarter, which also extends to Triemli at the foot of the Uetliberg, where you can live a little more quietly and closer to nature.
In Kreis 6 you live centrally, but also somewhat quieter than in the area around Langstrasse or the main railway station. Many university students and university staff, for example, are drawn here, as both the University and ETH Zurich are nearby.
Most people live in Kreis 9 in Altstetten and in the north of Zurich in Kreis 11 and 12 (Oerlikon, Seebach, Affoltern and Schwamendingen). Apartments there are often cheaper than in the city center. In addition, Schwamendingen in particular has a high proportion of cooperative apartments.
Apartments in Kreis 7 in Witikon on the outskirts of the city also tend to be cheaper. The same applies to the Leimbach district. Many families live in both districts. Kreis 1 and 2 are more expensive: these include the Old Town in the center of Zurich, but also the extremely popular Seefeld district on Lake Zurich.
Where you want to live in Zurich is ultimately also a question of taste. Living in a suburb can also be worthwhile. In communities around Zurich such as Zollikon, Thalwil, Regensdorf, Kloten, Bülach, Dietikon, Dietlikon or Uster, apartments are often significantly cheaper than in the city of Zurich, and at the same time they are perfectly connected to the city of Zurich by public transport. The municipalities of Opfikon with Glattbrugg and Glattpark, Schlieren, Dübendorf and Wallisellen even have their own tram. This is why zueriwohnung.ch not only lists first-time rentals of apartments in the city of Zurich, but also in the surrounding area.
9. Does zueriwohnung.ch receive money from the landlords?
No. Zueriwohnung.ch researches the apartments in and around Zurich independently and has no contact with the landlords. They also pay nothing for the publication of their advertisements on zueriwohnung.ch. This is the only way we can guarantee independence and equal treatment.
10. How can I find a (cheap) apartment in Zurich?
In addition to the offer of zueriwohnung.ch, where cheap apartments from the city of Zurich or from large cooperatives are regularly linked, you can also set up search subscriptions on all common real estate platforms. In Switzerland, these include Comparis, Flatfox, Homegate, Immoscout24 and Newhome.
11. Is zueriwohnung.ch also worthwhile if I want to set up a shared flat in Zurich?
Yes, shared flats (WG) are generally permitted in new apartments in the city of Zurich and the surrounding area. If not, this is usually explicitly mentioned. First-time lettings are ideal for shared flats – and apartments in the city of Zurich or in cooperatives are often available at low prices.