Selling property in Dättlikon: a waiver without a start date

At the ballot box, Dättlikon approved a new article in its building and zoning regulations on 18 May 2025.⁷ It is an explicit waiver of a value capture levy. The cantonal building department then asked for an editorial change to the article heading. The municipal council adopted that change on 26 May 2026.

According to the cantonal map, the proposal was approved on 3 July 2026.¹³ In October 2026, however, the map records no date for it taking effect. For today this means: no municipal levy. According to the map, though, the waiver is not yet in force.

For you as a seller, this changes little in practice: neither the old nor the new version of the regulations charges a municipal levy.⁶⁷ The cantonal levy on new zoning applies regardless. The building office will confirm when the waiver takes effect, if that matters for a specific sale.

For Dättlikon the cantonal land model gives CHF 1,210 per square metre of residential building land in 2025.⁸ Since 2015, when the model value stood at CHF 758, it has risen by 59.6 per cent. The model gives a range of CHF 841 to CHF 1,744.

Across the canton, the median price actually paid for residential building land was CHF 1,742 per square metre in 2021 to 2025.⁸ In 2011 to 2015 it was CHF 800. That is a different measure from the model value, and the Dättlikon model value sits below it.

In Winterthur district, to which Dättlikon belongs, the flat median was CHF 950,000 in 2025, from 536 sales.² In 2015 it was CHF 695,000 from 413 sales. Model value and district median describe different things and cannot be added together. The district median mixes sales from across the district and is not a price for a flat or house in Dättlikon.

Dättlikon levies the tax under the same tariff as every Zurich municipality.¹ The first CHF 4,000 of gain is taxed at 10 per cent, the part above CHF 100,000 at 40 per cent. Owning for 5 full years or more brings a reduction. In the example it is 20 per cent after 10 years.

The maximum, 50 per cent, applies from 20 full years. The same gain would then trigger CHF 45,700 instead of CHF 73,120.¹ For a purchase over 20 years back, the market value of 20 years ago can count instead, on request. Documented value-enhancing investments also cut the gain; plain maintenance does not.

Invest the proceeds in a new home in Switzerland to live in, 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, there is no deferral. Deferred is not waived.