Selling property in Turbenthal: high tax rate, small market

The canton only publishes a median from 15 open-market sales a year. In 2015 houses cleared that threshold with ease: 24 sales, a median of CHF 680,000.² In 2025 only 10 houses changed hands; in 2007 it was 14. Both years miss the figure.

Flats, by contrast, have a median in 2015 and 2025, though not in 2007 (4 sales). In 2015 the 15 sales sat right at the threshold, at a median of CHF 569,000. In 2025 it was 20 sales, at a median of CHF 758,500, a rise of 33 per cent in ten years.² That puts the Turbenthal median roughly 37 per cent below the cantonal median of CHF 1,200,000.

What this means for you: no house price can be read off the flat median. A figure that fits your house needs location, plot and building derived separately. Comparable properties from close by are the basis for that, not a single median.

The cantonal model puts residential building land in Turbenthal at CHF 853 per square metre for 2025.⁷ In 2015 it was still CHF 565, a rise of 51 per cent in ten years. Typically the model ranges from CHF 607 to CHF 1,201 per square metre.

Only 30 of the 160 municipalities of the canton have a lower model value. For the canton as a whole there is a second measure. Residential building land actually sold for a median of CHF 1,742 in 2021 to 2025.⁷ The two figures are produced differently; the Turbenthal model value is less than half of it.

The model only estimates undeveloped land, not your own plot and not the building on it. For a house in Turbenthal, the building comes on top, with its age, condition and fit-out. Both are derived separately and documented, rather than borrowing a figure from the village.

The tariff is identical in every Zurich municipality; Turbenthal merely levies it.¹ It climbs in steps with the gain: 10 per cent on the first CHF 4,000, 40 per cent on the part above CHF 100,000. The holding period works the other way: 20 per cent off after 10 full years.

From 20 full years the reduction stays at one half. The same gain would then bring CHF 32,600 instead of CHF 52,160 in tax.¹ After more than 20 years, owners may use the market value of 20 years ago as the purchase price. Documented value-enhancing investments also cut the gain; maintenance does not.

Buy an owner-occupied home in Switzerland with the proceeds, and tax can be deferred.¹ You must have lived in the old property yourself. If the replacement costs less than the proceeds, the difference is taxed at once. If it costs no more than the old price plus investments, there is no deferral.⁹ Deferred is not waived.