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Every tax bill carries the same line: a municipal rate of 125 per cent. And once you start thinking about selling the house, a worry follows: will the city also take more of the gain than elsewhere?
No. A house bought in 2007 at the Winterthur median of CHF 615,000 and sold in 2025 for CHF 1,422,000 costs CHF 174,832 in property gains tax. The same gain costs exactly the same in Küsnacht. The tax rate only makes itself felt later, and that is where your choice lies.
If the tax rate does not touch the gain, where does it matter?
Worked example
Worked example, Winterthur: house, 18 years of ownership
Assumption: bought in 2007 and sold in 2025, each at the Winterthur median for single-family houses, without investments or costs. In 2007, 187 houses were sold on the open market in Winterthur.
- Sale price (median 2025, provisional)
- CHF 1,422,000
- Purchase price (median 2007)
- – CHF 615,000
- Property gain
- CHF 807,000
- Tax per tariff, before reduction
- CHF 312,200
- Reduction for 18 full years: 44%
- – CHF 137,368
- Property gains tax
- CHF 174,832
- Remaining after tax, before mortgage
- CHF 1,247,168
Does the high Winterthur tax rate make selling more expensive?
Not the sale itself. The property gains tax follows the same tariff throughout the canton; the municipality only collects it.1 The tax rate applies to income and wealth.3 In Winterthur it is 125 per cent, 220 per cent including the canton. That is the highest of the 19 Winterthur district municipalities.
You notice it after the sale. If you stay in the city, the tax rate stays the same. If you move to one of the 157 lower-tax Zurich municipalities, the bill falls on the same income and wealth. In Uster you pay about 6 per cent less cantonal and municipal tax, excluding church tax. In Seuzach it is about 11 per cent less, in Dübendorf about 15 per cent.
What this means for you: your next home is a tax question, not just a question of the flat. Anyone planning with a pension and the proceeds should set tax rate, rent or a new mortgage side by side. Only then does it show whether staying or moving costs less.
How much does the Winterthur median say about your house?
More than in most municipalities, because a lot changes hands here. In 2025, 124 single-family houses and 245 condominiums were sold on the open market.2 No other municipality in the Canton of Zurich sold more houses in 2025. The house median is 55 per cent above 2015 and about 11 per cent below the canton.
Even so, it remains an average across a whole city. It mixes large and small houses, new ones and those needing renovation. It does not show whether your house sits above or below it. Land has also become dearer. The canton estimates residential building land here at CHF 2,349 per square metre in 2025, 106 per cent more than in 2015.10
What this means for you: many sales mean many comparisons, for buyers too. They quickly see whether a price fits the others. An asking price therefore needs a derivation that holds up to that comparison.
| Indicator | Winterthur | As of |
|---|---|---|
| Median house price (124 sales) | CHF 1,422,000 | 2025, provisional |
| Median condominium price (245 sales) | CHF 1,050,000 | 2025, provisional |
| Median house / flat (139 / 235 sales) | CHF 920,000 / CHF 745,000 | 2015 |
| Residential building land per m² (cantonal model) | CHF 2,349 (2015: CHF 1,141) | 2025, provisional |
| Residents, of whom 65 and over | 120,491, of whom 20,302 (16.8%) | 2025 |
| Tax rate municipal / total, excl. church | 125% / 220% | 2026 |
| Train from Winterthur to Zürich HB | from 19 minutes (S 11) | 2026 timetable |
| Municipal value capture levy | 40% of the gain in value minus CHF 100,000 | in force since 15.06.2022 |
Which levers can you pull yourself in Winterthur?
The date. From 20 full years of ownership the tax is halved.1 With the same gain as in the example, CHF 156,100 would then be due instead of CHF 174,832. For a purchase in 2007, that threshold is reached in 2027.
The receipts. The purchase price and value-adding investments, such as a conservatory or a converted attic, are deducted from the proceeds.1 Ordinary maintenance does not count. Every invoice you find for a genuine improvement makes the gain smaller.
Your next home. Did you live in the house permanently and exclusively yourself? If you then buy or build a home for the same use in Switzerland within a reasonable period, the tax is deferred.1 This applies only to the extent the proceeds are used for it. What this means for you: date, receipts and next home are linked. Planning them together means keeping more.
What applies to the value capture levy in Winterthur?
Since June 2022, Winterthur has charged its own levy: 40 per cent of the gain in value minus CHF 100,000.6 Cantonal law allows no municipality more.8 Plots under 1,200 square metres are generally exempt.6 Only the rise in value from upzoning or rezoning is covered, that is, when more may newly be built.
The levy only falls due on development, not on sale.9 If you sell first, the obligation passes to the buyer and belongs in the sale contract.8 For an upzoned or rezoned plot it therefore affects the price buyers can pay. More in the guide to the value capture levy.
Whether you stay or move: I calculate your gains tax and the tax at your new home with your figures. That way you see both before you commit.
Prefer to talk? +41 76 325 11 95 – you speak directly with Dominik Devaja.
Estate agent in Winterthur
Selling in Winterthur with Immosmile: four phases, one contact person
I support sales throughout the Canton of Zurich, including Winterthur. 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 Winterthur worth?
What else do owners in Winterthur ask?
How do I find the right estate agent in Winterthur?
I work across the canton from Zurich, Winterthur included. What matters is whether someone derives the price transparently, includes the tax and shows in writing what you keep. 12 questions to ask help you compare.
Is the tax based on the value of the house or on the gain?
Only on the gain: sale price minus purchase price and value-adding investments. An expensive house with a high purchase price can therefore trigger less tax than a cheaper one bought for little decades ago.
Is the 2025 Winterthur house median final?
Not yet. The canton lists the last three years as provisional. The CHF 1,422,000 may therefore still shift.
Sources
- Tax Act of the Canton of Zurich (StG ZH, LS 631.1), §§ 205, 216(3)(i), 219, 221, 225 (Nachtrag 132), in German · as of 1.4.2026, retrieved 14.10.2026
- 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 14.10.2026
- 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 14.10.2026
- SBB online timetable: Winterthur – Zürich HB, fastest connection departing 09:00–09:59 · 2026 timetable, queried 14.10.2026 for 20 and 22.10.2026
- Building and zoning regulations of the City of Winterthur, art. 1a «Mehrwertausgleich», in German · in force since 15.06.2022, retrieved 14.10.2026
- Building Department, Canton of Zurich: status of value capture levies in the municipalities (map), in German · retrieved 14.10.2026
- Value Capture Act of the Canton of Zurich (MAG, LS 700.9), §§ 6, 7, 19, 20, in German · retrieved 09.10.2026
- Value Capture Ordinance of the Canton of Zurich (MAV, LS 700.91), § 21, in German · retrieved 09.10.2026
- Canton of Zurich, Office for Statistics and Data: property prices in the Canton of Zurich, residential building land in CHF/m² (KTZH_00003158), in German · transfer statistics 2025/Q4, published 4.5.2026, 2022–2025 values provisional, retrieved 14.10.2026
- 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
