5%
Theoretical rate
Lenders do not assess your charges at the market rate but at a theoretical 5%. Your file must hold even if rates rise sharply.
Calculator
Swiss borrowing capacity calculator
Enter your income, liquid assets and property canton to estimate your maximum purchase price under Swiss lending rules.
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Your project
Notary and mortgage-certificate fees vary widely by canton.
Your finances
CHF
CHF
Assumptions: main residence, no occupational pension or pillar 3a used, until you refine the calculation.
Your purchasing capacity
Capacity in progressYour budget will appear here
Enter your annual income and liquid assets. The maximum purchase price then appears, before the detailed plan.
The three rules that decide your capacity
33%
Maximum affordability ratio
Theoretical interest, maintenance at 1% of the property value and amortisation must not exceed roughly a third of your annual income. Each lender applies its own calculation method and its own tolerance around that threshold.
20%
Minimum own funds
Of which at least 10% must be hard equity, excluding occupational pension assets. Acquisition costs come on top and cannot be financed.
Independent mortgage advice
An indicative plan. An adviser to make it financeable.
Choose a specialist by canton, language and project. They can confirm the structure, prepare the file and compare financing solutions.
Choose an adviserBrowse available profiles in the directory.
What moves the result
Canton, property use and pension assets.
The figure shown is not a Swiss flat rate. It changes with cantonal acquisition costs, the type of residence and how you use occupational pension and pillar 3a assets.
The canton moves the result more than you would expect
Acquisition costs range from about 1.5% of the price in Zug or Zurich to nearly 5% in Geneva, Vaud or Neuchâtel. On a one-million purchase the gap exceeds CHF 35,000.
These costs cannot be financed by the mortgage: they are paid from your liquid assets, just like own funds. A calculator applying one flat rate across Switzerland is therefore wrong by construction.
In Geneva, the Casatax discount sharply reduces transfer duties for a main residence below the legal cap. The calculator applies it automatically when you qualify.
Main or second home: two different calculations
For a main residence you can use your occupational pension and pillar 3a, by withdrawal or pledge, and second-rank amortisation usually runs over fifteen years.
For a second home pension assets cannot be used, required own funds are higher and amortisation is shorter. With identical finances, buying power can be more than a third lower.
Pension assets change the picture
Withdrawing pension assets increases own funds and reduces the mortgage, hence the charge. Pledging leaves the assets invested and allows financing up to 90% of the price, but charges are still computed on a larger mortgage.
The two routes differ in tax treatment and in their effect on your retirement. This is exactly where an advisor makes the difference between a file that passes and one that passes well.
Prepare your Swiss property purchase
Build your financing plan
From a target price, see equity, mortgage structure and an indicative monthly budget.
Build your financing planCompare mortgage rates
View market averages and rates published by the institutions we monitor.
Compare mortgage ratesUnderstand the buyer journey
Equity, search, application and offer: see the next steps.
Understand the buyer journeyAfter the calculation: preparing a purchase that holds up
Knowing your capacity is not enough. On a sought-after property, the seller picks the buyer whose financing is already validated, not the one who still has to call their bank. Preparing your file upfront means you can decide fast when the property appears.
- Your capacity is confirmed on documents, not merely estimated
- Your file is ready before the search, not during it
- You make a strong offer at the moment it counts