PCP
The policy rate is not the lease rate
Monetary policy influences credit costs. The reference rate used for many Swiss leases, however, is based on a weighted average of outstanding mortgages, rounded to quarter percentage points. This stock contains loans agreed at different times and on different terms. It does not all reprice on an SNB decision day.
The housing office’s explanations, updated in September 2026, describe this delay. Long fixed-rate mortgages slow transmission. Some credit conditions can therefore change before the rental reference average moves. Confusing the two rates creates mistaken expectations about timing.
The 2025 changes were distinct reference-rate events. Announcement and effective dates matter: September’s announcement applied from the second day of the month. It did not immediately adjust every contract.
No universal discount
The September release explained that a rent based on 1.5 per cent could, in principle, support a 2.91 per cent reduction after the fall to 1.25. The figure was conditional. A rent already based on 1.25 did not acquire the same new entitlement; a higher base required a different calculation.
The lease or latest adjustment matters. Inflation and other cost changes can affect the amount. Indexed or stepped rents and certain subsidised housing follow other arrangements. A national average cannot replace examination of the contractual mechanism.
Adjustment concerns net rent, not automatically heating and separately agreed service charges. Total housing expenditure matters socially, but its components must remain distinct.
A right must be usable
The existence of a reduction rule does not prove every eligible household obtains an adjustment. Lease bases, earlier notices and explanations must be understood. Administrative and language resources are unequal. Difficult access can produce unequal protection.
The housing office describes requests to landlords and conciliation as system stages. Public policy should make that route accessible through readable documents, understandable reasons and independent information. Publishing a percentage does not complete transmission.
Reasoned replies allow the interest factor to be separated from other costs. Transparency reduces disagreements based on different starting points without deciding individual cases in advance. Protection should be assessable through evidence.
Existing tenants and people searching face different conditions
A lower reference rate may improve an existing tenancy. It does not itself create an available apartment for a household seeking to move. Construction takes time and depends on land, permissions, building capacity and a viable operating model.
Cheaper finance can facilitate projects. Other costs or land prices can absorb part of the advantage. Without examining land use and intended rents, additional affordable supply cannot be assumed. Project numbers and social purpose are separate questions.
Cooperatives and other nonprofit developers can connect financing to costs and long-term use. Construction and maintenance remain real expenses for them too. Their potential lies in joining land access, finance and use conditions so that support does not disappear solely into asset value.
Connect financing with housing policy
For the PCP, the 2025 experience requires effective protection in existing leases and accessible supply over time. Credit policy does not replace land decisions, support conditions or preservation of affordable homes.
Public scrutiny should follow finance, building costs, net rent, charges and access. Different timescales must be explained. Lower rates become socially useful when they actually reduce expenditure or enable an additional suitable home, with rules that preserve the benefit.