Selling property in Bäretswil: a museum railway, but no S-Bahn

Because too few flats were sold in 2015 and 2025. In 2007, exactly 15 flat sales in Bäretswil were enough for a median of its own, precisely the canton’s minimum.² One sale fewer, and there would have been no median. Since then the threshold has been missed: only 12 sales in 2015, 13 in 2025.

For houses the threshold was never reached, in any of the three reference years: 9 changed hands in 2025, 14 in 2015, only 12 in 2007. A figure of its own has thus been missing for years, for both types of property.

In Hinwil district, a flat cost a 2025 median of CHF 950,000, from 323 sales.² That is 36 per cent more than in 2015. A house cost a median of CHF 1,250,000, from 213 sales, 43 per cent more. Both figures sit 21 per cent below the cantonal median. What this means for you: the district figure shows the direction of the surroundings, not the price of your own property.

Even without a median, the land can be put into an official frame. The cantonal model puts residential building land in Bäretswil at CHF 1,491 per square metre for 2025.⁷ That is 76 per cent more than the CHF 847 of ten years ago. Typical values run from CHF 1,047 to CHF 2,112. The model only covers undeveloped plots, not a specific location and not an existing building.

By comparison, residential building land actually sold across the canton for a median of CHF 1,742 between 2021 and 2025.⁷ Model value and actual sale price are calculated differently and not directly comparable.

Neither figure says anything about your own plot or the building on it. With a house or flat in Bäretswil, age, condition and fit-out are added to that. For that there has been no official comparison figure since 2015. What this means for you: only your own derivation with regional comparables gives a reliable figure.

The same cantonal tariff applies in Bäretswil as everywhere; the municipality only levies it.¹ It rises in steps. The first CHF 4,000 are taxed at 10 per cent, the part above CHF 100,000 at 40 per cent.

The holding period pulls the other way: in the example 10 full years give a 20 per cent reduction. After 20 full years it would be 50 per cent, leaving CHF 45,500 in tax instead of CHF 72,800.¹ Owners of more than 20 years may use the market value of 20 years ago instead of the purchase price. Documented value-enhancing investments reduce the gain further; maintenance does not.

Replace the property with an owner-occupied home in Switzerland, and the tax can be deferred.¹ You must have lived in the previous property yourself. If the new property costs less than the proceeds, the difference is taxable at once. If it costs no more than the old purchase price and investments, there is no deferral.¹⁰ Deferred does not mean waived.