Selling property in Hüntwangen: direct train, no median of its own

Because a median depends on the number of sales, not on location. The S 9 links Hüntwangen-Wil station directly with Zürich HB, from 35 minutes.⁵ The name also mentions the neighbouring municipality of Wil, but the station lies on Hüntwangen territory.

The property market, by contrast, sees little movement. In 2025, 4 houses and 4 flats were sold on the open market; in 2015 it was 2 houses and 2 flats.² In 2007, 3 houses were sold and not a single flat. In each of these years the count falls well short of the threshold of 15 sales.

For the sale this means: there is no official benchmark in the village, the good connection notwithstanding. The figure for your property comes from district, land and building. In that, the train link counts as a feature of the location, not as a benchmark.

A first building block is the land. The cantonal model puts residential building land in Hüntwangen at CHF 944 per square metre for 2025.⁷ Ten years before it was CHF 638; the 2025 value is 48 per cent higher. For 2025 the usual range of the model runs from CHF 668 to CHF 1,338.

Across the whole canton, residential building land sold for a median of CHF 1,742 per square metre in 2021 to 2025.⁷ The model value for Hüntwangen is well below that. An estimated and a paid figure are, however, only roughly comparable; they arise in different ways.

The model concerns undeveloped land, not your own plot with its location. For a house, the building comes in addition, with its age, condition and fit-out. A price from hearsay is no substitute for that derivation, especially with so few sales in the village. Each building block is documented on its own, with plans, contracts and invoices.

Two different surroundings. In Bülach district, a total of 557 condominiums changed hands on the open market in 2025, at a median of CHF 1,125,000.² In 2015 it was 649 sales at a median of CHF 790,000. By 2025 the district median had thus risen by 42 per cent.

The Zürcher Unterland planning region, to which Hüntwangen also belongs, shows different figures. In 2025, 481 sales gave a flat median of CHF 1,010,000. In 2015 it was 539 sales and CHF 710,000.² District and region are therefore drawn differently. Which figure is closer to Hüntwangen, the statistics do not say.

For houses, the canton gives Bülach district a 2025 median of CHF 1,490,000, from 229 sales.² None of these figures is a price for Hüntwangen. They mix sales from across the district or the region and show where the surroundings stand, not what your property is worth.

The canton sets the tariff; the municipality of Hüntwangen levies the tax.¹ The first CHF 4,000 of a gain bear 10 per cent, the part above CHF 100,000 bears 40 per cent. A reduction applies from 5 full years of ownership. After 10 full years it is 20 per cent, as in the example.

The largest reduction, 50 per cent, applies from 20 full years. In the example CHF 61,700 would then be due instead of CHF 98,720.¹ For a purchase more than 20 years ago, the market value of 20 years ago may be used. Documented value-enhancing investments lower the gain; maintenance does not.

Buy a new home in Switzerland to live in, having lived in the one you sold, and the tax can be deferred.⁹ If the new one costs less than the proceeds, the difference is taxable at once. If it costs no more than the purchase price and investments of the old one, the deferral falls away. Deferral leaves the tax owed.