Selling property in Zollikon: what remains if you downsize locally?

Flats in Zollikon are expensive. The 2025 condominium median was CHF 2,510,000, more than twice the canton.² A house here fetches 1.3 times the price of a flat, as in the canton. In neighbouring Küsnacht it is more than double.

The flat market has also broadened. In 2025, 64 flats were sold on the open market, against 36 in 2015. The flat median is 32 per cent above 2015, the house median 23 per cent, with 17 house sales in each year.²

What this means for you: downsizing within Zollikon frees up about a fifth of the median house price, before tax and removal. That may well be the right decision, especially with the next twenty years in mind. But it should rest on a calculation with your figures, not on the feeling that much will be left from the house. A first orientation is the home check.

Because the tax follows the gain, not the type of property. The median flat rose from CHF 1,090,000 in 2007 to CHF 2,510,000 in 2025.² That is a gain of CHF 1,420,000, more than for the house. After 18 years it costs CHF 312,144 in tax. For the house it is CHF 281,904.

The tariff is the same throughout the canton; the municipality only levies the tax.¹ One comparison stands out: houses in Zollikon and Küsnacht had the same median of CHF 1,900,000 in 2007. By 2025, Küsnacht was at CHF 6,205,000. Medians simply mix different houses.

What this means for you: your tax depends on your own purchase price, your receipts and your full years of ownership. From 20 years it is halved.¹ Work it out with your data before you fix a date.

In Zollikon, 3,016 people are 65 or older, 22 per cent of the population.⁴ 9.1 per cent are 80 or older, the highest share of the 12 municipalities in the Pfannenstiel region. With age, questions of care, rights of residence or inheritance often arise.

If you move away after the sale, the tax rate at your new home counts, for income and wealth.³ Zollikon is at 76 per cent, 171 per cent including the canton. On the same income, Küsnacht means about 2 per cent less cantonal and municipal tax, Meilen about 2 per cent more. The tax rate has no influence on the tax on your sale gain.

For buyers who commute into the city, the train matters. From Zollikon the journey to Zürich HB takes from 10 minutes, on the S 16.⁵ What this means for you: clarify early who has a say. For a right of residence or usufruct, see the guide on right of residence and usufruct.