23. April 2018

Does owing their own home make people happy? Fredy Hasenmaile: Well, happiness is a fleeting emotion. I would rather talk about feelings of great satisfaction. Studies show clearly that homeowners feel more secure and more independent and find it easier to realize their own potential. These empirical results are very robust and do not just apply to Switzerland. So, would it actually be desirable to have more homeowners? Switzerland is one of the few countries to have a rental housing market and...

23. April 2018

The imputed rental value is a notional taxable income. It was introduced as part of the federal tax, which was collected as national defense tax during the Second World War. Homeowners pay tax on all rental income that they would receive if they were to rent out the property. At first this sounds absurd: Why tax someone for income that they have not received? Closer examination shows that the imputed rental value aims to achieve a balance between tenants and homeowners in terms of the taxes...

28. Februar 2016

Das Baselstädtische Stimmvolk hat die Kantonale Initiative "Neue Bodeninitiative (Boden behalten und Basel gestalten!)" mit etwas über 68% deutlich angenommen. Gemäss Initiativtext treten die Bestimmungen per sofort in Kraft. Dies bedeutet, dass alle pendenten und geplanten Verkäufe von Immobilien aus dem Bestand des Kantons Basel-Stadt nicht mehr bzw. nur noch eingeschränkt möglich sind.