Housing cooperatives in Zürich Wipkingen and how to find an apartment there

The Wipkingen neighborhood in District 10 has been a favorite spot for us ever since we moved to Zürich. We find the vibe along the Limmat supremely relaxing, and we often visit the family-friendly community center with the animal stable with our little daughter. Other highlights in Wipkingen for us are the pizza at ‘Da Pone’ as well as Kafischnaps for a drink after work. The neighborhood’s status as a trendy area naturally means the housing market is tough. In this blog post, we show you which cooperatives rent affordable apartments here and how you can snag one.

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Allgemeine Baugenossenschaft Zürich

ABZ is the largest cooperative in Zürich and, of course, also owns properties in Wipkingen. One of ABZ’s oldest settlements, for example, is located on Leutholdstrasse and Habsburgstrasse in Wipkingen. The 74 apartments with 2–4 rooms are on the small side and are therefore especially popular with single people and young couples.

Two further ABZ settlements in Wipkingen with 56 and 48 apartments (2–4 rooms), respectively, are located on Waidfussweg. These apartments are also modest and are mainly occupied by older couples and single people. In Wipkingen, ABZ thus owns a total of 178 apartments, most of which are rather small. This is ideal for single people and young couples, as rents are very low and the location is great.

Unfortunately, it’s not all that easy to get an apartment with ABZ. Despite the large number of apartments (over 5,000 in total!), ABZ advertises comparatively very few. We’re not really sure why that is. Even in new-build projects, unfortunately, many apartments are often allocated internally at ABZ (for example, in April 2025, only 17 of the 69 apartments in the project in Leimbach were rented out externally). When ABZ does publish something, a listing appears on the ABZ website and usually stays online for 24 hours. There’s also a free newsletter for all available apartments. Unfortunately, the newsletter has no filters, which means you receive all listings, including apartments that don’t fit in terms of size. Of course, we also send out the apartments in our Suchabo, with filters—and often before the cooperative itself.

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Baugenossenschaft Denzlerstrasse

This rather small cooperative owns a fairly new settlement with 176 apartments (1–5.5 rooms) in 12 distinctive apartment buildings very close to the Gemeinschaftszentrum Wipkingen. The properties were occupied in 2015 and 2017, respectively, and what particularly impressed us is that honey is produced on-site in the settlement!

Baugenossenschaft Denzlerstrasse owns a total of 250 apartments, which means the number of vacancies is rather limited. Apartments are advertised on the cooperative’s website (here). Naturally, we monitor this page constantly and send our subscribers a link whenever a listing goes up. We were very pleased to see that Baugenossenschaft Denzlerstrasse’s annual report clearly states how many tenant changes took place in the respective year. In 2024, for example, there were 11 internal moves and 6 external newcomers. So the chances of getting an apartment with this cooperative are not very high, but not zero either.

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Baugenossenschaft des Eidgenössischen Personals

The Baugenossenschaft des Eidgenössischen Personals (BEP) owns 9 settlements with over 400 apartments in the Letten quarter of Wipkingen. The properties are all close together, so on Lettenstrasse, Imfeldsteig, and Rousseaustrasse you will mainly find BEP properties. Unfortunately, the apartment sizes are mostly limited to 2- to 4-room units. You’ll hardly find large family apartments here.

BEP posts its apartments on its website. To snag one, you should check there regularly. Units do come up from time to time—in 2024, BEP advertised 6 apartments in the city of Zürich. There were also apartments in Winterthur. Naturally, we monitor the website continuously and send all new listings in our Suchabo. This way, subscribers are always well informed when it comes to BEP apartments. By the way: BEP is participating in the promising Seebahnhöfe project in District 4. You can find information about it here.

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Baugenossenschaft Kyburg

This small cooperative owns properties in Wipkingen on Zschokkestrasse, as well as one building at Röschibachstrasse 52 and one at Rosengartenstrasse 26. Baugenossenschaft Kyburg maintains a waiting list. On its website you’ll find a registration form that you can fill out and mail to the cooperative. We don’t know how often apartments become available and people on the waiting list are contacted, but we suspect this happens very rarely, as it is a very small cooperative. If you have information, we’d be happy to hear from you!

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Baugenossenschaft Letten

This more than 100-year-old, medium-sized cooperative has its Stammsiedlung Letten in Wipkingen. The first buildings were occupied as early as 1924. The settlement is not far from BEP’s properties—this part of the city is truly shaped by cooperatives. BG Letten’s Siedlung Letten comprises over 200 apartments with 1–5.5 rooms, with the majority having more than 3 rooms.

Baugenossenschaft Letten advertises on its website. Our Suchabo is worthwhile here, as we monitor this constantly and immediately send all available apartments to our subscribers.

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Baugenossenschaft Suwita

You’ll find this small cooperative in Wipkingen on Uhlandstrasse, where it owns 52 apartments. In spring, there’s a wonderful display of blossoms right in front of the building. Since we couldn’t find a website, the information about the number of apartments comes from the website of the architecture firm, which carried out an interior renovation in 2019. Unfortunately, we don’t know how to get an apartment with this mysterious cooperative. If you feel like it, you can try a letter, because apart from a postal address there’s nothing to be found on the internet.

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Baugenossenschaft Turicum

This cooperative, with a very basic website, owns in Wipkingen a settlement consisting of 4 apartment buildings with 28 apartments. Unfortunately, there is no information on the number of rooms and rental prices, but the settlement is touted as quiet and family-friendly, which also suggests larger apartments. The apartments of Baugenossenschaft Turicum are managed by the IVAG AG. The apartments apparently get listed on Homegate; so far we haven’t seen any, though. So it’s rather unlikely you’ll get an apartment here.

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Baugenossenschaft Waidberg

There are two settlements of this cooperative in Wipkingen. Siedlung Geibel comprises 12 apartment buildings with 80 apartments (2–4 rooms) and is located between Geibelstrasse and the extension of Rosengartenstrasse. Siedlung Rotbuch is at Rotbuchstrasse/Corner of Nürenbergstrasse and consists of 6 apartment buildings with a total of 48 apartments (2–4 rooms). In total, Baugenossenschaft Waidberg manages almost 130 apartments in Wipkingen, primarily smaller units for single people, couples, or small families. You won’t find large family apartments in these settlements.

Baugenossenschaft Waidberg posts its available apartments on its website. That’s about 5–7 apartments per year. So the chances aren’t amazing, but if you don’t try at all, you’ll definitely come up empty. Of course, we constantly monitor the website and send all available apartments in the Suchabo.

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Baugenossenschaft Zurlinden

This cooperative owns the Siedlung Rötel in Wipkingen right by Bucheggplatz, with a total of 76 apartments spread over 5 buildings. Unfortunately, no information on apartment sizes can be found on the cooperative’s website.

If you want to rent an apartment from Baugenossenschaft Zurlinden, you can fill out the form for prospective tenants. If something suitable becomes available, the cooperative will get in touch. We don’t know how often that happens, since—as with many cooperatives—this is not communicated. But an entry certainly doesn’t hurt. By the way: In Horgen, Baugenossenschaft Zurlinden is currently building stage 2 of the Zentrums Tödi, a forward-looking new-build project. You can register here on the list of interested parties. You’ll naturally also find current information on our website under new-build projects.

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Gemeinnützige Baugenossenschaft Röntgenhof Zürich

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You’ll find Siedlung 6 of this large cooperative on Sydefädeli/Hönggerstrasse in Wipkingen. It comprises 76 apartments (1–4 rooms). On the cooperative’s website you can also watch a video of the settlement to get a better impression. We especially liked the blooming trees during our visit.

GBRZ maintains a list of interested parties. You can fill out the form online and, if you’re lucky, the cooperative will contact you and offer you an apartment. We’re always curious how often people are contacted. The 2023 annual report shows that around 70 external tenants are accepted per year. We don’t know how many people are contacted per available apartment, of course. But the chances of getting an apartment with this cooperative are certainly intact, and an entry is definitely worthwhile. Don’t forget that the application has to be renewed every 6 months.

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Gemeinnützige Baugenossenschaft Selbsthilfe Zürich

This small cooperative owns a quietly located settlement on Schubertstrasse in Wipkingen with mostly 3- and 4-room apartments.

Vacancies with this cooperative are rather rare, and when they do arise, you’ll find the apartment advertised on the website. You can check every day—or use our Suchabo. In 2024 we sent out 2 listings from GB Selbsthilfe Zürich by email, one of which was for an apartment on Schubertstrasse. We assume it will be a similar number this year.

Stiftung PWG

This is a foundation rather than a cooperative, but we include it here because it offers affordable apartments in the city of Zürich. The PWG manages over 180 properties with more than 2,200 apartments in Zürich. Accordingly, it also rents affordable apartments in Wipkingen. You can view the entire PWG portfolio here. The chances of getting an apartment with PWG aren’t bad, as there are listings very often—almost every day an apartment is posted on the website. In 2024 this foundation ranked 1st in our ranking of providers of affordable housing. You can apply directly for apartments via PWG’s website. To avoid missing any of these interesting properties, we recommend our Suchabo, because with it you receive an email immediately when a new PWG listing is posted.

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Wogeno

Wogeno is a cooperative of self-managed houses with properties in the city and canton of Zürich. What’s special about this cooperative is that tasks related to managing the houses are delegated directly to the house communities. Wogeno is represented almost everywhere in Zürich, so you’ll also find properties of this cooperative in Wipkingen, for example on the Waidstrasse. To rent an apartment with Wogeno, you must first become a member. That costs 3,000 francs, which unfortunately do not earn interest. After 3 months you are then fundamentally entitled to rent an apartment. Vacant apartments are sent via newsletter to all members. According to the website, people who have been members longer have better chances; however, Wogeno has told us that it usually takes years before you might make the shortlist. So if you’re willing to deposit 3,000 francs with WOGENO, you can give it a try. Of course, you can also cancel your membership and get the money back. For a term of less than 2 years, however, they may charge a fee.

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Conclusion: Many but rather small cooperative apartments in Zürich Wipkingen

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Various cooperatives own properties in Wipkingen, and it is definitely possible to snag an affordable apartment here. To increase your chances, we recommend signing up for all available lists of interested parties as well as subscribing to our Suchabo. That way you won’t miss any listings for vacant cooperative apartments in this popular neighborhood. There’s just one thing to note: The cooperatives’ settlements in Wipkingen were mostly built at a time when apartments tended to be modest in size. Accordingly, the cooperatives in Wipkingen mainly offer 2–4 room apartments. So if you’re looking as a single person, couple, or small family, you may find something here. If, however, you’re looking for a larger apartment, the cooperatives in Wipkingen are unfortunately the wrong address. For larger apartments, we recommend, among others, the cooperatives in Affoltern, Unterstrass or Oerlikon.

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