Real estate Swiss Life CEO: Building more is the best way to combat the housing shortage

According to Swiss Life CEO Matthias Aellig, building more is the best way to combat the housing shortage. In an interview with the Sonntagszeitung newspaper, he emphasized that slow building permit procedures often delay projects.

"We are still building and are happy to put apartments on the market, because building more is the best recipe against the housing shortage. But you also have to give us a break," said the life insurer's CEO, who has been in office since mid-May. "In some cases, the building permit procedures prevent or delay our projects."

According to Aellig, Swiss Life is focusing on densification for renovations, whereby additional apartments are being created. Around three quarters of tenants remain in their apartments during renovations.

With regard to rising rents following renovations, Aellig was skeptical of initiatives that aimed to prevent price increases. "In Geneva, this has led to the real estate market becoming outdated," said the physicist, who was born in 1971.

Focus on metropolitan areas

Despite the housing shortage and rising rents, the insurance group feels primarily committed to its customers: "Our duty is to generate market-compliant returns with our apartments for our policyholders," said Aellig. This is why the company invests in different segments and apartment sizes.

Around 80 percent of Swiss Life properties and construction projects are located in the greater Zurich, Geneva and northwestern Switzerland areas. "We are where the economic activity takes place and where demand is greatest."

In Switzerland, the life insurer Swiss Life is one of the largest private residential landlords. It has almost 40,000 apartments. According to the CEO, a good CHF 85 billion of the total of around CHF 256 billion in assets under management are invested in real estate.

SDA