Zurich

Kreis 11 — Oerlikon, Seebach and Leutschenbach

Empty office towers, the city's largest reserve land holdings and two office-to-housing conversions already under way.

• Kreis 11 office vacancy rose from 6.4% to 11.9% in 2025 — over 50,000 m² in Quadro, Vertex and SkyKey
• 71 of the city's 180 reserve plots (29.1 ha of 63.1 ha) lie in Kreis 11
• 202 office buildings of 4+ storeys with about 1.2 million m² of heated floor area

Risk: Tower conversions are expensive and owners such as pension funds plan their own; noise from rail and roads along the Glatt valley.

Kreis 9 — Altstetten and Albisrieden

The second-largest office district outside the centre, with the highest office vacancy after Kreis 11 in the last city count, and the Koch-Areal showing what city land plus cooperatives can do.

• 20,335 m² of offices empty in 2021 (2.9%); Albisrieden 4.7%
• 197 office buildings of 4+ storeys, about 1.17 million m² heated floor area
• Koch-Areal cooperative homes let from June 2026

Risk: The city's own office vacancy figures stop in 2021; current broker data is not split by district.

Kreis 2 — Enge, Wollishofen and Leimbach

A large stock of older lakeside office buildings beside housing, plus 30 city reserve plots.

• 326 office buildings of 4+ storeys (about 870,000 m² heated floor area)
• 30 city reserve plots covering 4.2 ha
• Enge had 8,590 m² of empty offices in 2021

Risk: Among the highest land values in Switzerland; office vacancy here was low (1.7% in 2021).

City of Zurich — Baurecht to non-profit housing providers

The city lets its own land on long building leases (Baurecht) to cooperatives and foundations — about 5,500 flats so far — and tenders sites in stages, first checking each team's organisation and finances, as at Thurgauerstrasse (380 flats for two teams of two to three cooperatives). A new cooperative usually enters as a partner in such a team.

Liegenschaften Stadt Zürich (city property department)

Holds 180 reserve plots (63 ha) and 156 reserve buildings, listed openly in the property inventory, and bought 47 properties for CHF 1.3 billion in 2022–25, 18 of them as strategic reserves. Reserve buildings are often let on interim terms before redevelopment — the moment to propose a cooperative use.

Stiftung PWG (city foundation for affordable homes and workspace)

Buys existing buildings off the market and keeps them affordable — including empty offices, as at Schärenmoosstrasse 115/117 with a city write-down. Owners wanting to sell an office building, and cooperatives looking for a partner, can approach it.

City of Zurich — § 49b PBG minimum shares of low-cost housing

Where land is upzoned or rezoned, or a special building plan (Gestaltungsplan) allows homes, the city uses the cantonal § 49b rule to require a share of low-cost housing — this applies when offices or industrial land are rezoned for flats.

City of Zurich — Wohnraumfonds and loans

Supports non-profit housing providers with equity stakes, interest-free and low-interest loans, write-down contributions and grants from the Wohnraumfonds, under conditions on non-profit status and allocation.

Canton of Zurich — housing promotion fund

Voters doubled the cantonal fund for non-profit housing from CHF 180 million to 360 million in November 2025; cooperatives can draw on it for building and buying.

Owners of empty Oerlikon office towers

More than 50,000 m² emptied in Quadro, Vertex and SkyKey in 2025 and over 40,000 m² of Zurich offices have been withdrawn for conversion. BVK is converting Quadro itself; other owners may sell floors or buildings to a non-profit partner.