Selling property in Elsau: both of its own medians missing in 2025

Through the land first. The cantonal model values residential building land in Elsau at CHF 1,109 per square metre for 2025.⁷ In 2015 it was CHF 633, a rise of 75.2 per cent. Typically the model ranges from CHF 788 to CHF 1,551 per square metre.

This is a model value for undeveloped land, not a figure from an actual sale of your plot. For the canton as a whole there is a second measure. Residential building land actually sold for a median of CHF 1,742 per square metre between 2021 and 2025.⁷ The model value and the actual price are built differently. Elsau sits clearly below it with its model value.

An official figure for the house price per square metre does not exist for Elsau in 2025 either. The reason is the same: too few sales. What this means for you: value land and building separately. Lean on comparable properties from the region, not on a single figure heard in the village.

Elsau still had its own flat median in 2015. At 15 sales, the canton's minimum, it stood at CHF 690,000.² By 2025 only 10 sales remained, too few for a new figure. The same happened to houses: only 12 sales in 2025.

In 2007, 51 condominiums were still sold on the open market, far more than in 2015 or 2025. The number thus varies sharply between the three reference years. With so few sales a median says little, and for some years there is none at all.

The worked example therefore uses the flat median of Winterthur district, not Elsau's own 2015 figure. The district also has a house median, CHF 1,330,000 in 2025, from 309 sales.² What this means for you: the fewer the sales, the less an official average says about your own flat. Location and fit-out then need to be assessed individually.

The basis is the same tariff throughout the canton; Elsau is responsible for levying it.¹ The rate rises with the gain. The first CHF 4,000 are taxed at 10 per cent, parts above CHF 100,000 at 40 per cent. Ownership then brings a reduction, here 20 per cent after 10 full years.

From 20 full years the reduction is highest, at 50 per cent. From the same gain, CHF 45,700 would then be due instead of CHF 73,120.¹ Owners of more than 20 years may use the market value of 20 years ago as the purchase price instead. Documented value-enhancing investments reduce the gain too; maintenance does not.

Buy an owner-occupied home in Switzerland with the proceeds, and the tax can be deferred.¹ The previous home must also have been owner-occupied. If the replacement costs less than the proceeds, the difference is taxable at once. If it costs no more than the old purchase price and investments, nothing is deferred.¹⁰ Deferred does not mean waived.