VACANCY RATES IN THE CANTON OF VAUD

What are the real figures?

In July, the official statistics service of the canton of Vaud (Statistique Vaud) published the vacancy rates as at June 1, 2022 for each district of the canton. The Union suisse des professionnels de l'immobilier (USPI) Vaud notes a discrepancy between its own data and that of the State. This difference has important legal and regulatory consequences.

Thanks to a collaboration between USPI Vaud and Statistique Vaud, the reliability of the figures has improved, but they still do not reflect reality, since the communes of Vaud are only able to provide data on a portion of their housing stock, and no extrapolation is made. For its part, USPI Vaud conducted its own survey and obtained a vacancy rate for the entire canton on the rental market of 1.24%, compared with the official rate of 1.11%. In other words, according to the government, the vacancy rate is below 1.5% in some districts, which could mean rent control and the obligation to use an official form when concluding a new lease.
“This finding shows that we still need to improve the reliability of our data, and to this end we are continuing to collaborate with Statistique Vaud,” explains Frédéric Dovat, General Secretary of USPI Vaud. In the canton of Vaud, data is collected from municipalities, and the calculation methodology is decided by the Swiss Federal Statistical Office. In Geneva, where the shortage is considered to be below 1.5% and the equilibrium at 2% (remember the heated debates in the Grand Council in 2014, when MCG deputy Roland Zacharias fought against additional control proposals put forward by the left), the Cantonal Statistics Office (Ocstat) collects its own figures. However, as the vacancy rate is well below 1%, the stakes are not the same.

An absolute approach versus a field survey

The difference in results stems from the fact that Statistique Vaud uses absolute figures supplied by the communes of Vaud and compares them with the entire housing stock, whereas these absolute figures can only relate to a portion of the said stock. As a result, certain percentages obtained and communicated by the canton fall short of reality, which could place some districts in a housing shortage situation, implying rent control following renovation work as soon as their vacancy rate is below 1.5%.

As in 2021, USPI Vaud conducted a parallel survey and came up with a more nuanced result for the vacancy rate on June 1, 2022. “Our survey is based on a solid sampling of 131,435 rental properties throughout the canton,” stresses Louis Martin, President of USPI Vaud. The survey counts 1,626 vacant units on the rental market for the sample concerned. It should be noted that the total number of properties in the canton is over 400,000 units, including owner-occupied properties and properties for sale”. To date, no one has understood why the latter two categories are included in the vacancy rate calculation.

Some figures from the results of the survey conducted by USPI Vaud on vacancies on the rental market in the canton of Vaud.

Notable differences by district

In detail and by way of example, the vacancy rate on the rental market in the Lausanne district is 0.91%, in the Aigle district 2.24%, in the Jura Nord-Vaudois district 1.87%, and in the Riviera-Pays-Enhaut district 1.94%. Even if these rates do not take into account vacant units put up for sale, the latter can hardly explain the differences with the figures used by Statistique Vaud, which show a vacancy rate of 0.56% for the Lausanne district, 1.62% for the Aigle district, 1.4% for the Jura Nord-Vaudois district and 1.17% for the Riviera-Pays-Enhaut district.

Construction delays put pressure on vacancy rates

Most of USPI Vaud's figures, although slightly higher than the official rates, are lower than last year's. “This is due to the fact that a number of construction projects are significantly behind schedule and will come on the market in the second half of 2022, or even in the first half of 2023, at the earliest. In addition, demand for housing remains buoyant, as Covid-19 has led to renewed interest in homes with balconies or terraces. Older homes that have been put back on the market have quickly found takers,” notes Frédéric Dovat.

It seems quite clear that neither the communes, nor the owners, nor even the real estate agents and managers will represent the entire rental stock. With the exception of the communes, which are obliged to do so, some of these players may not respond in a timely manner to requests, whether from the state or from professional associations. As with the results of the vote at the exit polls, an intelligent and scientifically sound extrapolation should be carried out to determine the true vacancy rate and the measures (if any) that are justified!

Vincent Naville

About Cerise Immobilier gérance et courtage, real estate agency in Villars-sur-Ollon

Cerise Immobilier gérance et courtage is a real estate agency located in Villars-sur-Ollon in the canton of Vaud, Switzerland. We offer services in sales, purchases, rentals, PPE management, property valuations and tax and legal advice. We cover the Chablais region of Vaud, including the communes of Ollon, Gryon, Bex, Aigle, Les Diablerêts, Chessel, Leysin, Lavey, Noville, Roche, Yvorne and Villeuneuve.

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