Selling property in Buchs: a market without an official house price

The canton only publishes a median from 15 sales a year.² In Buchs, just 5 houses changed hands on the open market in 2025, and 13 in 2015. For houses there is therefore no official local benchmark at all. The land offers one official pointer. The canton’s model puts residential building land in Buchs at CHF 1,601 per square metre in 2025.¹⁰

For flats it is tight. 21 sales were enough for a 2025 median of CHF 900,000. That is 25 per cent below the cantonal median. It is 7 per cent above 2015, when there were 19 sales. With so few sales, a handful more or fewer can shift a median noticeably.

What this means for you: the value of your house cannot be read off a table here. It comes from the house itself, its plot, condition and fittings, and from comparable sales in the region. That is exactly why an careful assessment pays off before a village figure becomes the anchor.

Here the tax takes 6.8 per cent of the sale price. The reason is not Buchs but the gain. Even in 2007, the median flat cost CHF 599,500. The gap to today is smaller than in many other municipalities, so the taxable gain is smaller too.

The tariff itself is the same throughout the canton. That is set out in § 225 of the Tax Act.¹ It rises in bands from 10 to 40 per cent as the gain grows. After 18 full years of ownership the tax falls by 44 per cent, from 20 years by 50 per cent.¹ The municipality levies it, but the canton sets the rate.

What this means for you: your own purchase price counts, not the median. Documented investments that add value, such as an extension or a converted attic, reduce the gain further. You can calculate it yourself with your own figures.

In Buchs, 1,141 people are 65 or older, 16.8 per cent of the population.⁴ Many sales at this age have a reason: a smaller home, being nearer the children, a care home. That raises the question of where to live next.

This is where the tax rate comes in. It only affects income and wealth tax, never the tax on the sale gain.¹ Buchs is at 105 per cent, 200 per cent including the canton.³ Neighbouring Regensdorf is at 212 per cent, about 6 per cent more cantonal and municipal tax on the same income. Dietlikon is level with Buchs.

For buyers who commute into the city, the train matters. From Buchs-Dällikon the journey to Zürich HB takes from 21 minutes, on the S 6 without changing.⁵ What this means for you: plan the sale and your next home together, not one after the other.