The government would permit more housing if the Swiss wanted it that way.  They don't.  They are trying to keep Switzerland from becoming a wasteland of suburban sprawl.

Thats not a very good way to deal with it. There can still be availability of good housing if it is done in an organised tasteful way. Because if thats what they are trying to prevent, then someone wants to have their cake and eat it too as all the international organisations do a lot for the Swiss economy therefore it would only be fair if they made it easier for those who come to improve the economy.

For a few years now there's been a very noticeable trend for people to leave Geneva and buy or rent in Vaud and neighbouring France, so I think that without this the pressure would be even worse. Very low interest rates are allowing the middle class to get mortgages, which is a big change as in the past most people would rent. Of course the housing shortage in Geneva is also partly why people move out.

Maybe the new euro exchange rate will tempt more people to move over the border.

There are some big housing projects coming along, but the net arrival of people into Geneva each year keeps the pressure on.

I m swiss and I agree that there is a problem. This is the thing with GVA, people like it to stay a "small" city. For me it should adapt to the changing situation. There are also many conflicting power like the political parties (some want to built, other want to keep the nature safe, then they don't necessary agree on what kind of buildings to built, then they waste time and money years and years while nothing is done...) and also there is the problem of regulation, like there is a maximum high for buildings, and some land is allowed to be built in and some isn't because it is said to be agricultural and again it takes years to be renamed as "building"...

I agree it shouldn't get messy and there should be some kind of rules to create harmonious, fitting, best possible buildings. But it will never be perfect, even if it takes lot of time to make a decision. Let's hope someday politics will wake up...

In my opinion, one solution (which would not be popular here on Glocals) is to remove fixation du loyer (rent control) and allow the free market to determine rental pricing.  In this scenario, property investors would have a much stronger incentive to purchase housing for rental purposes and the rental supply would increase.  It would also force regie's to clean up their act and clean up their properties -- With a 0.1% vacancy rate or whatever they have no incentive to behave themselves, fix all the broken crap in a timely manner, and treat renters with respect.  The adversarial regie/tenant relationships which are the norm today would come to a crashing halt.

I myself would consider buying property here if I knew that I could rent it out later and cover the mortgage plus all of the carrying expenses.  Right now cap rates are in the toilet because investors can't charge what the market will bear.

The second part of this is that voters would quickly lose their appetite for the regulatory status quo surrounding the construction of new residential housing.  There's be some pain until the ship rights itself, however...

My understanding is that there are federal regulations limiting the amount of agricultural land that can be released for other uses such as housing, and this is one of the reasons why Geneva hasn't expanded more.

See for example the introduction to the Loi fédérale sur l’aménagement du territoire (LAT)

http://www.admin.ch/ch/f/rs/7/700.fr.pdf

Yes that's right, you can't use all the agricultural land to construct houses (which sucks as my stepmother has a few acres in Cologny ;) ).

Actually, there were 2 related votations recently:

- We voted to allow houses to be build on what was an agricultural land so far, at Les Cherpines.

-There was also a votation to allow to add some floors to some buildings.

Regarding a votation to let regie's put whatever price they want, there is no way that it might happen, as there would be like 0% of suceed. I can understand the "people here are happy to have organizations so please build us some houses" (which of course makes some sense) but keep in mind that there are 2 different geneva in this city. The Geneva of the expats, and of the locals, and unfortunately they don't mix that much, and don't want or need the same things.

I've been working with expats for around 10 years, and so many many who got an appartment through their job, at way more above the market price. Was in a consulat last week, the girl just arrived, the consulat is renting for her and her family a flat (nothing amazing) in Versoix for 7000chf a month, which is like 2-3 times what it "should" cost. Keep in mind that the average salary is 5.5/6k a month, and you can see that locals people would never vote for something that would move the prices higher. It even impacts the prices in France, the region of Ferney is 30% higher than the other side (annemasse, chens sur léman,...) because the organisations are there.

And regarding France, you're right, more people there look because of the euro price. But I spoke with some real estate agents in France last 2 weeks, and they got the same problem... many people looking, not many things to sell them.

Remy

I think your comments about what expats pay are really on point. Many, if not most, pay way above the price a local would pay for an apartment.