One month of vacancy on a monthly rent of CHF 1'800 does not simply cost you CHF 1'800. It costs you considerably more. Besides the lost rent, you continue paying mortgage interest, ancillary costs fall entirely on you, and depending on the situation, listing fees and accelerated renovation costs pile up. A single month of vacancy can quickly cost CHF 2'500 to CHF 3'000.

With two months of vacancy per year, your gross yield drops from, say, 4.5% to below 3.8%. The impact on your return on equity is even more dramatic because fixed costs keep running. You can read about how vacancy affects your cashflow in concrete terms in our cashflow article.

Vacancy is therefore not simply "lost income." It is an active cost driver. The good news: with the right strategies, it can be avoided or at least minimised in most cases.

The True Cost of Vacancy

Before we get to the strategies, let us look at the full picture. For an apartment with CHF 1'800 monthly rent, one month of vacancy looks like this:

Cost item	Amount
Lost rent	CHF 1'800
Ancillary costs (heating, water, general)	CHF 250
Mortgage interest (proportional)	CHF 650
Listings (Homegate, ImmoScout24, etc.)	CHF 200
Apartment cleaning / minor repairs	CHF 400
Total effective costs	CHF 3'300

You need to earn back these CHF 3'300 from the net rental income of the remaining months. With a monthly net cashflow of CHF 500, that takes over six months. A single month of vacancy wipes out half a year's profit.

If you run different vacancy scenarios for your own property, you can see the effects immediately in the immometrics forecast calculator. There you can enter vacancy as a percentage and observe how the cashflow changes over the years.

Strategy 1: Set the Right Rent

The most common reason for vacancy is a rent that is too high. This sounds obvious, but it happens regularly. Landlords orient themselves around a target price rather than the market. Or they set the price based on their own cost calculation, along the lines of: "I need at least CHF 1'900 for the investment to work."

The market does not care about your calculation. It cares about the price-to-value ratio compared to similar apartments in the same area.

How to find the right price:

Research current listings for comparable apartments (size, location, features) on Homegate and ImmoScout24.
Note how long these listings have been online. Apartments that have been listed for weeks may be overpriced.
Check the local reference interest rate and customary rents in the area.
Be honest about your apartment's condition. A kitchen from the 1990s does not justify a premium price.

A rent that is 5% below the maximum can ensure you find a tenant within two weeks instead of two months. The "lost" CHF 90 per month is nothing compared to two months of vacancy.

Strategy 2: Professional Photos and Listings

In a time when prospective tenants search online first, the first five seconds determine whether someone clicks on your listing or scrolls past. And those five seconds are determined by the photos.

What makes professional photos:

Natural daylight, no flash photography
Tidy, empty, or neutrally furnished rooms
Wide-angle shots that show the space
Photos of all rooms, including bathroom, kitchen, and balcony
At least one photo of the view or surroundings

A professional photographer costs CHF 300 to CHF 500. If they save you even one week of vacancy, the investment has more than paid for itself.

For the listing itself:

Write an honest but appealing description. Highlight the genuine advantages (south-facing balcony, Minergie standard, public transport connections).
State the key facts immediately: number of rooms, floor area, rent, move-in date.
Include a floor plan. Many prospects immediately discard apartments without one.
Be transparent about ancillary costs. Hidden costs are off-putting.

Strategy 3: List on Multiple Platforms

Many landlords rely on just one platform, usually Homegate. That is like a shop advertising on only one street. Different target groups use different channels.

The most important channels in Switzerland:

Homegate: Largest reach, the standard for most searchers
ImmoScout24: Second-largest platform, partially different user base
Flatfox: Popular with younger tenants, free application process
Ronorp / WG-Zimmer: For individuals and apartments suitable for shared living
Local newspapers / municipal websites: Often surprisingly effective in rural areas
Social media: Facebook Marketplace and local groups reach people who are not actively searching

The cost for multi-platform listings is CHF 100 to CHF 400 additional. Compared to vacancy costs, that is negligible.

Strategy 4: Flexible and Fast Viewings

You have a great listing, enquiries are coming in, and then you offer a single viewing slot: Wednesday at 2 PM. That excludes everyone who works during the day. So, almost everyone.

Better approach:

Offer at least two slots, one in the evening and one on the weekend.
Respond to enquiries within 24 hours. Someone who waits three days for a response has often already viewed another apartment.
Allow individual viewings for serious prospects. Mass viewings with 30 people at once feel off-putting and unprofessional.
Prepare documents: floor plan, ancillary cost statement, house rules. Anyone who has all the information right away decides faster.

Letting is a sales process. The easier you make it for the prospect, the faster you will find the right tenant.

Strategy 5: Fast Renovation Turnaround

The most critical phase for vacancy is the tenant changeover. The old tenant moves out on 30 June, and the new one should move in on 1 August. In between lies one month where the apartment sits empty and gets renovated. Or two months, because the painter has no availability.

How to minimise the transition time:

Plan early: As soon as you receive notice, contact tradespeople and reserve dates. Do not wait until the tenant has moved out.
Pre-inspection with tradespeople: Have the painter or floor specialist inspect the apartment before move-out so they can estimate the scope and order materials.
Standardised processes: If you have multiple apartments, define a fixed workflow (Day 1: cleaning, Days 2-3: painting, Day 4: final clean, Day 5: handover).
List in parallel: Start marketing before the old tenant has moved out. In many cases, viewings can be conducted in the final weeks of the existing tenancy.

The goal is a seamless transition. Every day between move-out and move-in costs you around CHF 100 (at CHF 3'000 in total monthly costs). Two weeks of time savings are worth CHF 1'400.

Strategy 6: Pay Attention to the Right Tenant Mix

This strategy mainly concerns owners of multi-family buildings but is also relevant for individual apartments. The right tenant mix reduces the risk of simultaneous vacancies and ensures more stable rental income.

What a good tenant mix means:

Age structure: A mix of younger and older tenants. Older tenants tend to stay longer, while younger ones move more frequently. A property with only student flatshares has higher turnover than one with a mixed tenant base.
Income sources: Employees, self-employed, retirees. Do not put all your eggs in one basket.
Household sizes: Singles, couples, families. Families with school-age children move less frequently than single individuals.
Contract start dates: Where possible, stagger the start dates so that not all tenancies end at the same time.

When selecting new tenants, you may of course not discriminate. But you can position and price the apartment so that it is attractive to your target group.

Strategy 7: Retain Good Tenants

The best strategy against vacancy is the simplest: make sure your existing tenants do not want to leave.

The costs of a tenant changeover (vacancy, renovation, listings, time investment) amount to CHF 3'000 to CHF 8'000. A tenant who stays five years instead of three saves you a complete changeover cycle. That could be CHF 5'000 to CHF 10'000.

What keeps good tenants:

Quick response to problems: A broken washing machine reported on Monday, repaired by Wednesday. This sounds trivial but is a decisive factor for tenants.
Fair rent policy: A moderate rent increase of 2% is acceptable. A sudden increase of 10% drives good tenants to the competition.
Regular, visible maintenance: Well-kept stairwells, functioning lighting, clean surroundings. Tenants who see that the owner cares feel comfortable.
Respectful treatment: No unannounced entry to the apartment, no unnecessary inspections, professional communication. Tenants are customers, not supplicants.
Small investments with big impact: A new dishwasher for CHF 800 when the old one gives up after 15 years. Or a fresh coat of paint in the stairwell. Such investments cost little and signal appreciation.

A satisfied tenant who pays CHF 21'600 in rent every year is your most valuable asset. Treat them accordingly.

Measuring and Monitoring Vacancy

To avoid vacancy, you first need to measure it. The most important metric is the vacancy rate:

Vacancy rate = Vacant units x vacancy duration / (Total units x 12 months)

Example: In a building with 6 apartments, one apartment sits empty for 2 months. The vacancy rate is 2 / 72 = 2.8%.

Benchmarks for Switzerland (2026):

Major cities (Zurich, Geneva, Basel): Vacancy rate below 1%. Vacancy is rarely a problem here.
Mid-sized cities (Winterthur, Lucerne, Bern): 1 to 2%. Moderate demand, correct pricing is crucial.
Rural areas / periphery: 3 to 6%. Vacancy is a real risk here that belongs in your calculation.

In the immometrics calculator, you can enter the vacancy rate for your property and immediately see how it affects returns over the coming years.

Checklist: Minimising Vacancy

To wrap up, here is a compact checklist you can run through with every tenant changeover:

Rent checked against market (current listings, reference rents)
Professional photos taken
Listing placed on at least 2 platforms
Evening and weekend viewings offered
Tradespeople contacted before tenant moves out
Renovation work scheduled (target: max. 2 weeks between move-out and move-in)
Documents prepared for prospects (floor plan, ancillary cost statement, house rules)
Existing tenants asked about satisfaction

Frequently Asked Questions

How much vacancy is normal for an investment property?

In the major Swiss cities (Zurich, Geneva, Basel), the average vacancy rate is below 1%. In mid-sized cities, 1 to 2% is typical. In rural areas, the rate can rise to 3 to 6%. For your calculations, it is advisable to be conservative and plan for at least 2 to 4% vacancy. This keeps you on the safe side, even if your apartment is in a good location.

How long can an apartment sit empty before it starts to hurt financially?

Every day of vacancy costs money. At a monthly rent of CHF 1'800 and typical fixed costs, the effective cost is around CHF 100 per vacant day. From around two weeks of vacancy per year, the return starts to noticeably decline. With one month of vacancy, you already lose the net cashflow of roughly six months. Use the immometrics calculator to simulate the effects of different vacancy scenarios on your cashflow.

What can I do if my apartment still will not rent?

If the apartment has not found a tenant after four weeks of listing, first check the price. In 80% of cases, the rent is the problem. Try reducing the price by 5% and observe the demand. Also check the quality of your listing (photos, text, floor plan). If the apartment is in poor condition, a targeted renovation (new flooring, fresh paint) can significantly improve its rentability. In stubborn cases, a professional marketing partner can help.

Is a rent guarantee insurance worth it against vacancy?

Rent guarantee insurance typically covers rental losses after a waiting period of one to three months. Premiums run at about 3 to 5% of the annual rent. For properties in good locations with low vacancy rates, they rarely make sense because the premium is higher than the expected vacancy risk. In peripheral regions or for specialised properties, they can be worthwhile. Factor the costs into your cashflow calculation to make an informed decision.

Avoiding Vacancy: 7 Strategies That Actually Work