Selling property in Rheinau: a value capture levy since January 2026

For 2025 the cantonal model puts residential building land in Rheinau at CHF 568 per square metre.⁷ Ten years earlier it was CHF 422, an increase of 34.6 per cent. The typical range of the model there lies between CHF 397 and CHF 800. These limits, too, are model values, not prices paid.

Across the canton, residential building land actually sold for a median of CHF 1,742 per square metre in 2021 to 2025.⁷ The Rheinau model value is well below that. The two figures are only roughly comparable, because one is estimated and the other paid.

An official figure for the house price per square metre of plot is also missing for Rheinau, in all three reference years. The model, moreover, only covers undeveloped land. For your house, the building comes on top, with its age, condition and fit-out. The plot also has its own location. Each needs its own derivation, backed with documents.

Andelfingen district has enough sales for official medians. 129 condominiums were sold there on the open market in 2025, at a median of CHF 900,000.² In 2015 the median was CHF 641,000, from 100 sales. Within ten years the median thus rose by 40 per cent.

For houses, the canton gives the district a 2025 median of CHF 1,273,600, from 143 sales.² The Weinland planning region shows exactly the same figures as the district for both years. So there is no second, different comparison from the surroundings.

For Rheinau itself, none of these figures is a price. A district median pools sales from across the district without showing the location and condition of each property. In the worked example it serves as a yardstick for the tax, not as the value of your property. With only 5 house sales in 2025, your property needs a derivation of its own.

The tariff is cantonal; the municipality of Rheinau levies the tax.¹ It rises in steps: 10 per cent on the first CHF 4,000 of gain, 40 per cent above CHF 100,000. At least 5 full years of ownership bring a reduction, 20 per cent after 10.

With 20 full years it reaches its ceiling of 50 per cent. In the example the tax would then fall from CHF 74,400 to CHF 46,500.¹ After more than 20 years, the market value of 20 years ago may be used. The gain also shrinks with documented value-enhancing investments, though not with plain maintenance.

A deferral is possible if you lived in the property you sold and buy a new home in Switzerland to live in yourself.¹⁰ If the new one costs less than the proceeds, the difference is taxed at once. If it costs no more than the purchase price and investments of the old one, there is no deferral. A deferral is not a waiver.