Selling property in Benken: no station, no median

Benken lies in the north of the Canton of Zurich, in the Weinland. It has no station of its own; no railway station lies within the municipality. The fastest connection to Zurich therefore runs by bus to the station in neighbouring Marthalen.⁵

From the central bus stop Benken ZH, Dorf, the fastest connection between 9 and 10 am takes 53 minutes. It takes bus 630 to Marthalen. From there you walk to the station and ride the S 12 to Zürich HB.⁵ Earlier departures in that hour take noticeably longer, 65 or 77 minutes.

What this means for a sale: the lack of a station belongs in the description of your plot. The travel time is the documented figure. It is no reason to skip a derivation via district and land. Prospective buyers can look up the travel time themselves. An exact figure stands up to that check.

The cantonal land model estimates residential building land in Benken at CHF 1,031 per square metre for 2025.⁷ In 2015 the model value was CHF 611, which is 68.7 per cent more in ten years. The typical range of the model runs from CHF 715 to CHF 1,453.

The canton also publishes a median of prices actually paid for residential building land. Pooled over five years, it was CHF 800 for 2011 to 2015 and CHF 1,742 for 2021 to 2025.⁷ That is a different measure from the model value and serves only as rough orientation. Benken sits below it with its model value.

For flats, Andelfingen district, to which Benken belongs, provides the comparison. Its flat median rose from CHF 641,000 in 2015 to CHF 900,000 in 2025, from 100 and 129 sales across the district.² That is not a price for a flat or house in Benken.

Benken applies the same tariff as the whole canton and only levies the tax.¹ It grows with the gain, from 10 per cent on the first CHF 4,000 to 40 per cent above CHF 100,000. From the 5th full year of ownership the tax falls, by 20 per cent in the example after 10 years.

From 20 full years the reduction reaches its maximum of 50 per cent. The same gain would then cost only CHF 46,500 instead of CHF 74,400.¹ After more than 20 years, owners may use the market value from 20 years ago instead. Documented value-enhancing investments also cut the gain; plain maintenance does not.

Put the proceeds into an owner-occupied home in Switzerland, and the tax can be deferred.¹ The old home must also have been owner-occupied. If the new home costs less than the proceeds, the difference is taxed at once.¹⁰ If it costs no more than the old price and investments, the deferral does not apply. Deferred is not waived.