Selling property in Steinhausen: highest share of unbuilt zoned land

Steinhausen has no official price series. Unlike Zurich, the Canton of Zug keeps no median prices by municipality. Portal averages mix construction years and plot sizes, so they rarely fit your house.

What is officially counted is the building stock. Of 1,030 buildings with residential use in Steinhausen, 415 are single-family houses, or 40.3 per cent. In 650 buildings, or 63.1 per cent, the heating still runs on oil or gas. That is rank 2 of 11 after Baar; the cantonal average is about 55.6 per cent. No obligation follows from this. It simply shows that many houses face the heating question. So add records of heating, roof and windows to your sale documents.

The price of your house comes from location, plot and building, each measured on its own against comparable sales. The house valuation and the flat valuation work the same way. Ask for a reason behind every figure: the free assessment gives you a written price range and its derivation.

In the Canton of Zug, your annual return sets the tax rate. In other words: gain as a percentage of investment costs, divided by years of ownership. It is applied to the whole gain, with a floor of 10 and a ceiling of 60 per cent (§ 199 Zug Tax Act).

From year 12, the ceiling drops 2.5 percentage points a year, reaching 25 per cent after 25 years. Steinhausen assesses the tax, but its tax multiplier plays no part.

A gain below CHF 5,000 is tax-free. Value-enhancing investments you can document reduce the gain; ordinary upkeep does not. A deferral is possible if you sell a home you have permanently lived in. As a rule, you then buy one in Switzerland within two years before or after the sale. The deferral covers the share of the proceeds that goes into the new home; deferred is not waived (§ 191 Zug Tax Act). Check when your purchase was filed with the land register before setting a sale date.

The Canton of Zug has no property transfer tax. For the change of ownership, the Land Registry and Geoinformation Office charges for its time: CHF 180 an hour, counted in quarter hours or part thereof.

A sale counts as a transaction of particular importance. The rate is therefore multiplied by four until the fee reaches CHF 6,000; above that, the factor falls away. Unless agreed otherwise, buyer and seller each pay half and are jointly and severally liable. The office at Aabachstrasse 5 in Zug serves the whole canton.

The purchase contract is notarised by the municipal clerk of Steinhausen. Law firms may not notarise an ordinary property purchase. Notarisation costs CHF 300 to 4,000, with a surcharge if it takes more than an hour. Both are fees, not a levy as a percentage of the proceeds. In addition, a deposit of the expected property gains tax, or equivalent security, is due at notarisation (§ 202 Zug Tax Act).