The average interest rate for two-year fixed-rate mortgages is currently 1.81 percent, for five-year mortgages 1.79 percent and for ten-year mortgages 1.90 percent. This means that Swiss fixed-rate mortgages are currently significantly cheaper than at the beginning of June 2024 (see mortgage index chart), when they were 2.31 percent (two-year), 2.33 percent (five-year) and 2.42 percent (ten-year).
“Ten-year fixed-rate mortgages have become cheaper by around half a percentage point in less than three months,” says Felix Oeschger, analyst at moneyland.ch.
Fixed-rate mortgages cheaper than Saron mortgages
At an average of 2.09 percent, Saron mortgages are currently slightly more expensive than fixed-rate mortgages. However, the 2.09 percent is only the current interest rate, because unlike fixed-rate mortgages, the interest rate on Saron mortgages is constantly adjusted to the base rate.
Most market observers expect the Swiss National Bank (SNB) to announce a 0.25 percentage point interest rate cut at its September meeting. This would mean that after the interest rate cut, Saron mortgages would be roughly as expensive as fixed-rate mortgages, assuming that interest rates for fixed-rate mortgages do not change in the meantime.
outlook
Since the turbulence on the financial markets in early August, the mood has brightened again. Many market observers currently assume that the SNB will take an interest rate step in both September and December. This scenario is likely to be partly priced in, which suggests that fixed-rate mortgage interest rates will remain constant or even fall.
“However, economic and geopolitical risks remain elevated, and the scenario of a significant economic slowdown cannot be completely ruled out,” says Felix Oeschger. In this case, the central banks are likely to react with significant interest rate cuts, which would lead to further downward pressure on Swiss mortgage rates.
Mortgage index from moneyland.ch
The moneyland.ch mortgage index is based on the reference interest rates published online, which moneyland.ch automatically collects twice a day. For ten-year fixed-rate mortgages, the index corresponds to the daily average of the interest rates of over 30 banks and insurance companies. In addition, reference interest rates for fixed-rate mortgages with longer terms, variable mortgages, building loans and Saron mortgages are indexed. In addition to the reference interest rates per provider and mortgage, different key figures such as median, arithmetic mean, mode, minimum and maximum are also collected every day for various product groups such as online mortgages, mortgages from banks and mortgages from insurance companies.
Further information:
Graphic: Mortgage Index (PDF)
Table: Interest rate overview (PDF)
