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Affordable apartments are scarce in Zürich, and it takes quite a bit of perseverance to find a place to live. What not everyone knows: one major provider of low-cost rental apartments is the City of Zürich itself. In this article, we simply summarize everything worth knowing about these so-called municipal apartments.
Almost 10,000 affordable apartments
According to its own website, the City of Zürich rents out around 9,500 apartments on affordable terms. These so-called municipal apartments can essentially be found in all neighborhoods and in all sizes: from 1-room studios to 6.5-room family apartments and even houses. We analyzed last year’s rents and calculated that a municipal 3.5-room apartment costs a median of about CHF 1,500 per month. The 4.5-room apartments were rented last year for about CHF 1,700, and 5.5-room apartments for about CHF 1,900. These apartments are therefore much cheaper than what you find on the 'normal' market (Homegate etc.).
In 2024, about 7-8 municipal apartments in existing properties were advertised per week. On top of that, there were various apartments in new-build projects. This means several hundred municipal apartments become available each year. However, demand is huge, which makes it difficult to get one. In the coming years, the city will likely take stronger action against under-occupation in certain apartments (Interview in the Tagesanzeiger). Hopefully, the chances of landing a municipal apartment will therefore increase!
Just as a side note, not all municipal apartments are super cheap. In the past year, renovated municipal apartments were also rented at significantly higher prices (more than CHF 3,000/month for 4.5 rooms). Rents in new-build projects are also often somewhat higher than in existing properties. We attribute this to a higher cost-based rent.
Regulations for renting non-subsidized municipal apartments
Non-subsidized municipal apartments are not subsidized and are offered at a cost-based rent. This means that no profit is made from renting them. Such an apartment is an option for you if you meet the following rental conditions:
For occupancy, as with cooperatives, a simple formula is applied: number of people + 1.5 = maximum number of rooms. A couple (2 people) can therefore rent at most a 3.5-room apartment. For a family with 2 adults and 2 children (4 people), a 5.5-room apartment is possible.
Regarding income, it is a bit more complicated. At the start of the tenancy, the taxable income plus one tenth of taxable assets above 200,000 may be at most four times the gross annual rent. Note: this refers to taxable income, i.e., what you have in your final tax assessment after the various deductions. A calculation example without assets: For a rent of CHF 1,500 per month (a typical municipal 3.5-room apartment), your taxable household income may not exceed four times that amount, i.e., not more than CHF 6,000 per month or CHF 72,000 per year. You can find further calculation examples for income and assets here.
In addition, you must move your residence to the City of Zürich at the start of the tenancy. Exempt from the residence rule are people in education who are registered as weekly residents.
Regulations for renting subsidized municipal apartments
These apartments are reserved for people with low incomes. The rents are subsidized, meaning the City of Zürich covers part of the costs. Accordingly, stricter rules apply when renting:
The maximum apartment size is, as with non-subsidized apartments, number of people + 1.5. Fixed limits apply to income: for a 1-person household, taxable income may not exceed CHF 53,000; from 2 people the limit is CHF 62,600. The amounts are adjusted annually. Anyone seeking a subsidized apartment must not have taxable assets exceeding CHF 200,000.
In addition to these rules, your residence must have been in the Canton of Zürich for at least 2 years prior to the start of the tenancy. Furthermore, you must hold Swiss citizenship or a settlement or permanent residence permit.
Subsidized apartments are labeled in the E-Vermietung. Apply only if you meet the conditions.
How can you apply for a municipal apartment?
The City of Zürich advertises available apartments on its online portal (E-Vermietung) and in the free newspaper Tagblatt. The apartments usually go online on Fridays and are then normally advertised for one week. So if you systematically check every week, you won’t miss any apartment. But of course you have to remember every week. If that’s too much hassle, subscribe to our Suchabo and activate the 'municipal apartments' filter. Then all new matching listings simply arrive by email.
If you like a listing, you can easily apply online by creating an account with the online services of the City of Zürich. And then you need luck, because: who gets invited to the viewing is decided by a random generator! After attending the viewing, you will receive another application form, which can again be filled out online. Note: Those who do not show up will not receive a form. Attending the viewing is a must. For the final application you will need various documents, which are listed here (section 'Apply for apartment').
How the decision is then made about who is actually allowed to rent the apartment is known to few, because the city does not provide much information about this. We suspect that urgency plays a role, but that there is also a certain degree of arbitrariness, as demand exceeds supply many times over. You can also view all information about the application process here.
In high demand: municipal new-build projects
Of course, the City of Zürich also has new-build projects. The city is striving to increase the amount of affordable housing. The same rules for renting usually apply to new municipal apartments as to existing properties. Leasing is handled via the City of Zürich website, often via separate portals. There is a free newsletter that sometimes informs about the start of leasing (see below). Generally, the apartments are advertised for at least a week, so there is no extreme rush as with cooperative new-build projects, but if you don’t check regularly, you can miss these great projects. The Suchabo from Genossenschaffen helps here, because if you activate the 'municipal apartments' filter, you will receive early information about first rentals by the City of Zürich. Recently we informed about the projects Leutschenbach, Tramdepot Hard and Letzi and we are also monitoring the project Hardau I.
At this point we would like to give you an important tip: When it comes to applications for municipal apartments (including new-build projects), the city usually does not communicate directly by email, but via the online account. When a new message arrives there, you receive a notification via email. But beware: these notifications are sometimes identified as spam by email programs. Some acquaintances of ours were selected for the next application phase for Tramdepot Hard, but missed the deadline because the email landed in the spam folder. So be sure to mark right now noreply@zuerich.ch and lsz-vermarktung@zuerich.ch as trusted senders!
The Ligi newsletter: more or less up to date
For its new-build projects, the City of Zürich offers the Ligi newsletter free of charge. After creating an account for the City of Zürich’s online services, you can activate the newsletter in the login area. For us, by the way, this didn’t work for a long time: we had activated the newsletter (checkbox selected) but didn’t receive any emails. This went on for a year. We assumed no messages were being sent—after all, we had activated the newsletter! But then one day we tried something: we activated and deactivated the newsletter several times. And ta-daaa: about a week later the email about the leasing start at Tramdepot Hard arrived. It’s unclear whether nothing was really sent for a year or whether it was a bug on our side. So if you’ve never received a Ligi email, we recommend trying deactivating and reactivating it. It’s also worth noting that the Ligi newsletter does not inform about all of the city’s new-build projects. While the leasing starts for Tramdepot Hard and the Letzi estate were indeed announced, we received no information about the Leutschenbach estate. There, free apartments have simply appeared from time to time recently in the regular E-Vermietung. So: don’t rely 100% on the Ligi newsletter. Either check the E-Vermietung every week or subscribe to our Suchabo. We monitor all municipal new-build projects and send out all information in real time. By the way: for new-build projects, if the exact leasing start is known, we send a warning about 10 days in advance. This is not always possible, as the start of leasing is sometimes kept secret.
Summary
Municipal apartments provide affordable housing in the City of Zürich. Rents are mostly significantly lower than on the 'normal' market. An exception is renovated or newly built apartments, where the cost-based rent is sometimes higher. Although hundreds of municipal apartments are advertised each year, it is not easy to get one. The reason is that demand is extremely high. When Tramdepot Hard was recently advertised, thousands of applications were received within a very short time (Limmattaler Zeitung article). Of course, also because of the great location of these apartments.
If you meet the rental conditions for municipal apartments, we recommend visiting the E-Vermietung every week and subscribing to the Ligi newsletter or using our Suchabo. It can take a long time before the random generator selects you. Or not: recently, one of our subscribers received confirmation for a municipal apartment within 48 days. So it can also happen quickly!
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