What concerns and motivates homeowners today? That's what Houzy, the first open and leading platform for home ownership in Switzerland, wanted to know. That's why we survey a representative number of homeowners online every year. The results are particularly encouraging in the area of energy and heating.
The houses and apartments of the survey participants in the previous year, as well as in the current study, were built in 1989 (median value). At a time when fossil fuels such as oil and gas were available in abundance, cost almost nothing and nobody was seriously concerned about CO2 or the climate. It therefore came as little surprise when last year's Homeowners' Study 2023 revealed that almost half of the homeowners surveyed did not have modern heating systems.
This year, a decrease in the use of old heating systems can be seen compared to the previous year. The proportion of homeowners using heating oil fell from 23.6% in 2023 to 21.1% in 2024. The use of natural gas heating also fell from 20.6% in 2023 to 19.2% in 2024. Electric heating systems were also used less, falling from 3.7% in 2023 to 3.2% in 2024.
Just under a fifth of all homeowners surveyed plan to replace their heating system in the foreseeable future, almost a third of them this year: 5.4% of all homeowners want to replace their heating system in 2024. The intention to switch is even stronger among homeowners who still use oil or gas to heat their homes: 33.5% want to switch in the near future and 8.85% this year.
The Homeowners' Study 2023 already showed that a quarter of Swiss homeowners produced at least some of their electricity themselves in 2022. The proportion of households with solar systems has now risen to a third of all homeowners. Of homeowners and condominium owners without a solar power system, 41.8% intend to install a photovoltaic system in the next few years, with a quarter of this group still planning to do so in 2024, accounting for 9.9% of all homeowners. As expected, homeowners will have to be patient this year too, as solar installers will have their hands full in the near future.
The new Houzy Homeowner Study 2024 shows that 69.4 percent of all homeowners awarded at least one contract to craftsmen in 2023, with more than half of them completing more than one project. The order volume was CHF 15,000 (median). The order volume is likely to remain similar for the current year, as half of those surveyed have already planned a craftsman project.
As in the previous year, electricians, plumbers, painters and plasterers were commissioned the most. It became clear that Swiss homeowners primarily rely on craftsmen they already know. When looking for new craftsmen, they rely in particular on the internet or recommendations from their personal environment instead of using trade fairs or referral platforms. The proportion of homeowners who look for craftsmen via search engines or on craftsmen platforms is 16.4 percent, slightly higher than in the previous year - and the trend is rising. This trend is likely to continue in the coming years as homeowners become more digitally savvy.
A seventh of all homeowners surveyed plan to sell their property in the next few years. Of these, over 20 percent have set themselves the goal of selling their house or condominium before the end of this year. This would mean that around 3.2% of all houses and apartments in Switzerland will come onto the market in 2024.
Half of homeowners intending to sell are planning to sell their property with the help of a realtor. Over a third have already sold a property: Just under half of them with realtors and the other half independently, sometimes assisted by sales tools. Just under a sixth of the homeowners surveyed are planning to buy their own home. 45.4 percent of them also want to sell at the same time. One explanation for this could be the ongoing trend of more and more homeowners selling their house and buying a condominium as soon as their children have moved out because they need less living space or no longer want to or can no longer maintain the large garden.
In January and February 2024, 1,906 homeowners answered all the questions in our second online survey, which we repeat every year. Three quarters of respondents own a house and a quarter own an apartment. With this representative study, we want to find out what motivates homeowners and identify trends and patterns at an early stage. The key data of the study:
Houzy is the leading Swiss home ownership platform with more than 150,000 registered users. In May 2024, Houzy merged with Devis.ch (and its sub-brand Offerten.ch), the leading craftsman brokerage platform in French-speaking Switzerland. Together, we digitize and automate the “ buying - living - selling ” life cycle with interactive tools and support our fast-growing community with a lot of expert know-how. Houzy and Devis.ch are excited about this new chapter and are committed to making the new company the undisputed industry leader in the home ownership platform market.
Do you have any questions about the study or the results? We are happy to provide the media with detailed evaluations. Please contact
Nicolas Steiner
Marketing Lead
+41 79 377 35 64
