On this page
- Why did Rorbas have a house median in 2015, and where did it go by 2025?
- What does Bülach district show when Rorbas itself has no median left?
- What reduces the property gains tax on a sale in Rorbas?
- What matters in Rorbas besides the price?
- Is there a value capture levy in Rorbas?
- Who notarises a house sale in Rorbas?
- Estate agent in Rorbas
- Frequently asked questions
- Nearby
Suppose you hear the name of the station Embrach-Rorbas and assume it sits in Rorbas. The official map shows otherwise: the station stands on the territory of the neighbouring municipality of Embrach.
The house median also deserves a second look. In 2015, with exactly 15 sales, there was just one, CHF 770,000. In 2025 there were only 6 sales, and there is no median.
Why did Rorbas have a house median in 2015, and where did it go by 2025?
Worked example
Worked example, Rorbas: flat at the district median, 10 years of ownership
Assumption: a flat at the median of Bülach district, bought in 2015 and sold in 2025, without investments or costs. In Rorbas itself, 2025 sales were not enough for a median for houses or flats.
- Sale price (district median 2025, provisional)
- CHF 1,125,000
- Purchase price (district median 2015)
- – CHF 790,000
- Property gain
- CHF 335,000
- Tax per tariff, before reduction
- CHF 123,400
- Reduction for 10 full years: 20%
- – CHF 24,680
- Property gains tax
- CHF 98,720
- Remaining after tax, before mortgage
- CHF 1,026,280
Why did Rorbas have a house median in 2015, and where did it go by 2025?
In 2015, open-market sales in Rorbas just reached the threshold for a house median. With exactly 15 sales, a house cost a median of CHF 770,000. That is the minimum the canton needs to publish a figure at all.
In 2025 there were only 6 sales, well below the threshold. In 2007, 8 sales were not enough either. Flats did not reach a large enough number in any of the three reference years. There were 2 sales in 2007, 7 in 2015, 13 in 2025, always under 15. For 2025, Rorbas therefore has no median for houses or for flats.
What this means for you: the 2015 median describes the sales of 2015, not the market of 2025. Your valuation therefore rests on the surroundings and your own plot, derived separately. A memory of an earlier median, or of a single sale in the village, does not replace that.
What does Bülach district show when Rorbas itself has no median left?
Rorbas belongs to Bülach district, where sales are sufficient for official medians. For flats, 557 sales produced a 2025 district median of CHF 1,125,000. In 2015 the median, from 649 sales, was CHF 790,000, a rise of 42 per cent in ten years.
For houses, the district shows a 2025 median of CHF 1,490,000, from 229 sales. In 2015 it was CHF 1,025,000, a rise of 45 per cent. That puts both Bülach district medians only 6 per cent below the cantonal ones. These are CHF 1,200,000 for flats and CHF 1,590,000 for houses. Both district medians are well above their 2015 level.
For a flat or house in Rorbas itself, that is not yet a price. What this means for you: the district provides context, nothing more. Your house needs its own derivation via the land and the building.
What reduces the property gains tax on a sale in Rorbas?
The tariff is the same throughout the canton; Rorbas only levies it. It rises in steps with the gain. The first CHF 4,000 are taxed at 10 per cent. Parts above CHF 100,000 are taxed at 40 per cent. Ownership then brings a reduction, 20 per cent in the example after 10 full years.
From 20 full years the reduction is highest, 50 per cent. In the example, CHF 61,700 would then be due instead of CHF 98,720. For a purchase over 20 years ago, the market value of 20 years ago may also count. Documented value-enhancing investments reduce the gain; maintenance does not.
Buy a new home to live in, and the tax can be deferred. You must have lived in the old home and replace it in Switzerland. If the new home 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. And deferred does not mean waived.
| Indicator | Rorbas | As of |
|---|---|---|
| Houses sold on the open market | 6 (no median; 2015: 15, median CHF 770,000; 2007: 8) | 2025 |
| Flats sold on the open market | 13 (no median; 2015: 7, 2007: 2) | 2025 |
| Median flat price, Bülach district (557 sales) | CHF 1,125,000 (2015: CHF 790,000) | 2025, provisional |
| Residential building land per m² (cantonal model) | CHF 693 (2015: CHF 509) | 2025, provisional |
| Residents, of whom 65 and over | 3,071, of whom 434 (14.1%) | 2025 |
| Tax rate municipal / total, excl. church | 103% / 198% | 2026 |
| Bus and train to Zürich HB | from 42 minutes (bus 521, then IR 75) | October 2026 timetable |
| Municipal value capture levy | no rule in the building regulations | as of October 2026 |
What matters in Rorbas besides the price?
From the stop Rorbas, Hirschen, you take bus 521 and, after a change on foot, the IR 75 to Zürich HB, from 42 minutes.5 Embrach-Rorbas station carries the name of Rorbas but stands on the territory of the neighbouring municipality of Embrach. In Rorbas, 14.1 per cent of the population are 65 or older, 434 of 3,071 people; 3.3 per cent are 80 or older.4
Rorbas taxes income and wealth at 103 per cent, 198 per cent together with the canton.3 In Embrach you would pay about 5 per cent more cantonal and municipal tax on the same income and wealth, in Freienstein-Teufen about 2 per cent less.
Is there a value capture levy in Rorbas?
Today Rorbas charges no municipal value capture levy. The building regulations in force, from 2016 and in effect since 20 October 2017, contain no value capture article.6 According to the cantonal overview (as of 10 October 2026), a future rule has only been pre-reviewed, not adopted. Whether and from when it applies, the building authority can confirm.
The cantonal levy remains. If land is newly zoned for building, the canton charges its own levy of 20 per cent of the increase in value; small gains are exempt.8 The same applies when a zone for public buildings is rezoned. With new zoning, the levy falls due as soon as a sale takes place, so it belongs in the purchase contract. Background is in the guide value capture levy.
Who notarises a house sale in Rorbas?
Rorbas belongs to the Embrach notarial district.10 The responsible office is the Embrach notary, land registry and bankruptcy office at Dorfstrasse 113 B, 8424 Embrach. It notarises the purchase contract and registers the transfer in the land register. More in the guide notary and land register.
A median that was once barely official and has disappeared again needs a derivation you can check. I set out the land, the district value and the building separately and calculate, with your purchase date, what remains for you after tax.
Prefer to talk? +41 76 325 11 95 – you speak directly with Dominik Devaja.
Estate agent in Rorbas
Selling in Rorbas with Immosmile: four phases, one contact person
I support sales throughout the Canton of Zurich, including Rorbas. Through all four phases you have one contact person: me, Dominik Devaja, managing director of Immosmile. You pay nothing beforehand. Our fee falls due only when you sign the contract at the notary (Beurkundung).
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Clarity
Independent valuation, net calculation after taxes and costs, a look at what comes after. You decide on figures, not on hearsay.
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Preview
Before anyone sees your house, film, photography and exposé are produced. Then we show it to vetted buyers first – not yet on the portals.
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Market decision
You receive the demand report and every offer immediately. Then you choose the path to the best price: accept, bidding round – or the broad public phase on the portals, the normal case.
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Completion & move
Notary appointment, key handover, documents for what comes after – and, if you wish, guidance into your next home. Our fee only falls due now, with the notarised deed.
The full process in detail What is your property in Rorbas worth?
What else do owners in Rorbas ask?
How do I find the right estate agent in Rorbas?
Ask what anyone makes of a median that arose from exactly 15 sales in 2015 and is missing in 2025. I handle sales across the whole Canton of Zurich. A good derivation shows the district value, the land and the building separately and calculates the tax with your own purchase date. A list for the first meeting: the 12 checking questions.
Which purchase price counts if I inherited the house in Rorbas?
An inheritance itself does not trigger property gains tax. On a later sale, you generally take over the purchase price and purchase date of the deceased person as your starting value. More on the inheritance page.
Will selling in Rorbas cost me a value capture levy?
The building regulations in force today contain no levy of their own, and a future rule has, according to the canton, only been pre-reviewed. If land was newly zoned for building, the canton charges its own levy of 20 per cent of the increase in value, small gains exempt. It falls due with the building permit or as early as the sale.
Nearby
Selling property in neighbouring municipalities
Sources
- Tax Act of the Canton of Zurich (StG ZH, LS 631.1), §§ 205, 216(3)(i), 219, 220(2), 221, 225, 226 (Nachtrag 132), in German · as of 1.4.2026, retrieved 23.10.2026
- Canton of Zurich, Office for Statistics and Data: Freihandverkäufe von Immobilien inkl. Medianpreisen seit 2007 (KTZH_00000077) · data as of 2025/Q4, 2023–2025 values provisional, retrieved 22.10.2026
- Canton of Zurich, Statistical Office: municipal tax rates 2026, in German · as of 24.03.2026, final
- Canton of Zurich, Statistical Office: population by municipality and age (KTZH_00000254) · year 2025, retrieved 22.10.2026
- SBB online timetable: Rorbas, Hirschen – Zürich HB (bus 521, then IR 75), fastest connection departing 09:00–09:59 · 2026 timetable, queried 23.10.2026 for 27 and 29.10.2026
- Municipality of Rorbas: building regulations (2016, in force since 20.10.2017), with no value capture article, in German · retrieved 23.10.2026
- Canton of Zurich, Office for Statistics and Data: property prices in the Canton of Zurich (KTZH_00003158), residential building land, model value per municipality, in German · data as of 2025/Q4, 2022–2025 values provisional, retrieved 22.10.2026
- Value Capture Act of the Canton of Zurich (MAG, LS 700.9), §§ 2, 4, 10, 19, in German · retrieved 23.10.2026
- Cantonal Tax Office Zurich: Zurich tax manual no. 216.3, replacement purchase, paras 19–25, in German · as of 1.2.2018, retrieved 23.10.2026
- Notary offices of the Canton of Zurich: notary, land registry and bankruptcy office of Embrach (responsible for Rorbas), in German · retrieved 23.10.2026
- Government Council, Canton of Zurich: RRB No. 42/2026, cantonal tax rate 2026 (95%), in German · dated 14.01.2026
General information without guarantee, not individual advice. The law, the tax assessment and advice from professionals for your situation are what count. Terms of use
