Mortgages at Swiss banks rise as house prices jump

Total mortgages on the books of leading Swiss banks rose last year on the back of a jump in house prices during the Covid-19 pandemic, continuing a steady increase in mortgage holdings at the country’s four largest banks over the past five years.  

Swiss house prices increased 5.6% in 2020, while apartment prices rose 5.5%, according to a report in Le News, a Swiss newspaper. Over the past decade, individual home prices in Switzerland have reportedly risen by more than 20% and apartment prices by close to 30%.

UBS, the country’s largest bank by assets and the second-largest by Tier 1 capital as of end-2020, saw its mortgage book increase 10.2% year-on-year in 2020 to $196.3bn. The lender saw total mortgages increase 23.6% between 2016 and 2020, according to The Banker Database.

Credit Suisse, the largest bank in the country by Tier 1 and second-largest by assets, saw total mortgages jump 11.9% year-on-year in 2020 to $126.4bn. It also saw mortgages on its books increase by 23.6% between 2016 and 2020.

Raiffeisen Switzerland, the third-largest bank by both metrics, saw its mortgage book increase 13.2% year-on-year in 2020 to $216.4bn, extending its lead as the largest mortgage provider among the four leading banks. The bank saw total mortgages increase 33.3% between 2016 and 2020.

Zürcher Kantonalbank, the fourth-largest bank by assets and Tier 1, saw mortgages on its books increase 14.6% year-on-year in 2020 to $99.7bn.

Trends identified using The Banker Database, an online database providing comprehensive financial data and insight for 4000 of the world's leading banks in 190 countries. Contact us.