Selling property in Wollerau: low tax rate, same gains tax

For Wollerau, no authority issues a median price, neither for houses nor for flats. What is available are the cantonal tax guide values for building land. In the residential zone of Wollerau and Bäch, they range from CHF 1,800 to CHF 8,500 per square metre.⁸ In the centre and core zone it is CHF 1,500 to CHF 5,000.

The upper value is almost five times the lower one. The canton also notes that land value can fall outside the band in individual cases, for example with lake frontage.⁸ The guide values serve official reassessments from 2024. They are not the same as actual sale prices.

What this means for you: one price per square metre for all of Wollerau is therefore misleading. What counts is your plot, its exact location and the condition of the building. What a derivation looks like is shown in having a house valued and having a flat valued.

In 2026, Wollerau and Freienbach share the lowest combined tax rate in the canton: 174 per cent, rank 1 of the 30 Schwyz municipalities.² Of that, 110 per cent goes to the canton, 14 to the district of Höfe and 50 to the municipality. These rates apply to income and wealth. Property gains tax, by contrast, is levied by the canton alone, with no multiplier.¹

It is worked out in two steps. After a deduction of CHF 2,000, a banded tariff of 8 to 30 per cent applies.¹ Then the holding period counts: after 18 full years the reduction is 49 per cent, after 25 full years 70 per cent. Under 4 full years, a surcharge is added.

What this means for you: the calculation in Wollerau is the same as in Steinen or Illgau, at 305 per cent. You can lower it with documented value-adding investments and selling costs; ordinary maintenance does not count.

Selling in Wollerau means no property transfer tax, because the Canton of Schwyz levies none.⁴ Only fees under the tariff for notaries and land registrars can apply. For the transfer, the fee is CHF 45 for each started CHF 50,000.¹⁰ Above CHF 10 million it is halved on the part beyond. Smaller fees, for example for land register entries, come on top.

Wollerau has no notary office of its own. Responsible is the notary, land registry and bankruptcy office of Höfe at Rebhaldenstrasse 15 in Freienbach.⁹ It serves the whole district of Höfe, meaning Wollerau, Freienbach and Feusisberg. An official notary there notarises the purchase contract. Freelance lawyer-notaries may not notarise property sales.

What this means for you: the appointment for the deed takes place in Freienbach, not in Wollerau. Buyer and seller set out how the fees are split in the purchase contract. Background in the guide Notary and land registry.

On the reference date of 1 June 2026, 59 dwellings stood empty in Wollerau, 1.61 per cent.⁷ The cantonal rate was 0.50 per cent, so Wollerau was more than three times higher.⁶ Rented and owned flats are counted, houses included. It does not show how many houses are for sale.

At the same time, Wollerau is a municipality with a lot of wealth. 1,414 people counted as asset millionaires in 2022; only Freienbach had more in the canton.¹³ Measured against the 2025 population, that is roughly 18.5 per cent. 22.6 per cent of residents are 65 or older, against 20.4 per cent in the canton.⁵

What this means for you: more empty dwellings mean more choice for people looking. How far that affects sale prices only shows in comparison with actual sales in the region. So rely on a careful derivation for your house rather than a rule of thumb.