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Home equity can still only be earned up to half with pension money.
Thomas Teuscher wants to move into his four-room condominium in Bernese Zealand in a few days. A trained agricultural machinery mechanic paid 650,000 francs for this and fulfilled his long-dreamed wish: “I have had this dream in my mind for about ten years and I have started to save money.”
He hasn’t put any money from his pension fund into the necessary equity capital: “Deliberately not. It’s not that when I get older I don’t have any money or I don’t have enough money, ”says Teuscher. His new home is primarily his Pillar 3a savings, i.e. voluntary retirement benefits.
It remains as it is
The fact is: For more than 20 years, home ownership prices in Switzerland have only been going in one direction: up. Therefore, it is more and more difficult for medium-sized companies to be able to buy a house or flat at all and maintain them financially in the long run (II mortgage amortization, maintenance, repairs). The National Council wanted to counteract this: it should again be possible to fully finance the own funds needed for the purchase of real estate with capital from the pension fund. Currently, a maximum of half applies.
Last Monday, the Council of States rejected the application. The question is whether it makes sense at all to invest money from the second pillar to buy housing in the face of declining future pension fund pensions. Currently, the capital of pension funds in Swiss homes is over CHF 47 billion.
close the gaps
Financing your home ownership with pension money initially means breaking the pension gap. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Karl Flubacher, managing director of VZ Vermögenszentrum Nordwestschweiz / Westschweiz in Basel, says: “If you withdraw money from the pension fund and the pension reserve falls in the future, you should fill the gap by putting the money back into the pension fund. For many, this solution has the advantage that they do not have to worry about investing funds. And thanks to contributions to the pension fund, retirement security is also improving again ”.
Example: Anyone who, at the age of 40, takes 200,000 francs from a pension fund to buy a house would, according to Flubacher, set aside about 600 francs a month before turning 65 to fill the gap again.
Additional pent-up demand
The State Council’s “No” is no tragedy for Karl Flubacher: “If the middle class – that is, the politicians’ idea – can afford to own more home again for more pension money, I think it will lead to an increase in demand. And increasing demand is leading to even greater price increases. ” So at least he questioned whether the goal would be met that the (lower) middle class would be able to afford more home ownership again.
So far, everything has worked out for the new owner of the house, Thomas Teuscher. However, his investments do not end with the purchase of an apartment. Another CHF 15,000 is expected to be introduced and another CHF 100,000 should be added over the next five years. And what prompted him to buy this apartment? «Definitely a view, undisturbed location here. Seeland Bernese is beautiful, ”he says.