A very exciting image of the relocation situation in Switzerland arose when the largest relocation platform in Switzerland analysed its data. MOVU tackled the question of what fundamental thing motivates Swiss individuals to move away from home sweet home. In the majority of cases, one great reason is the motivation behind a move: a bigger flat, moving in with a partner or a change of job. To a lesser extent, there may be more unfortunate reasons such as separation from a partner, death or relocation to a retirement home.
The fact that a move is not always cheap is shown by the statistic that around half of all relocations cost around CHF 1,500 to 3,000. The interesting thing about this is that people from German-speaking Switzerland seem to spend more money on moving than people from French-speaking Switzerland. Zug residents are the leaders in terms of removal costs: on average, they spend over CHF 2,000 per move. In contrast, Geneva residents find moving to be the most cost effective at CHF 1,500. If you compare on the basis of the respective number of rooms which must be relocated, then someone from German-speaking Switzerland pays up to 23% more for the same number of rooms than someone from French-speaking Switzerland.
According to the study, 42% of people moving had only 30 days or less between starting the planning phase and moving day. This was not the case with those moving in Thurgau. Across Switzerland, they were the ones who planned the most in advance, as they start preparing for the move 60 days before relocating. Thurgau residents thus plan for twice as long as those from Geneva, which have the shortest lead time in Switzerland. Differences also exist between rural and urban areas, with moves in rural areas taking an average of twelve days longer to plan than moves within cities.
It’s also incredibly interesting to see which particular objects are most likely to be relocated per canton. Most sports equipment (such as bicycles, skis, surfboards and weight benches) are relocated in the cantons of Solothurn, Zug and Thurgau. In contrast, more washing machines are relocated in Geneva, Neuchâtel and Valais than anywhere else. Bern and Graubünden beat the others in terms of baby items making their way into the new home. The most musical among the Swiss are those from Basel Landschaft, Geneva and Basel Stadt, who take along the most musical instruments when moving.
The assessment confirmed the tendency of Swiss people to rent. The vast majority of Swiss individuals live in rental properties: In German-speaking Switzerland, 84% of all those moving are renting. In French-speaking Switzerland, the proportion of moving homeowners is a little higher. Nevertheless, three-quarters of movers live in a rental property. Incidentally, an average of 31 boxes are packed per family and an average of 19 boxes are packed by individuals when moving, regardless of whether they rent or own.
MOVU is Switzerland’s largest relocation platform and is based in Zurich. Since its founding in May 2014, MOVU has supported over 15,000 customers during their move. MOVU offers its customers a relaxed move while bringing transparency to the Swiss moving market. With its acquisition by Baloise in 2017, a removals insurance was jointly launched. Customers can thus enjoy the supplementary Bad Frog insurance. If the new apartment turns out to be disappointing within a month, Baloise will take over the relocation. As a result, the customer needn’t keep the frog, but rather has hope of finding their prince – i.e. a nice flat.