Zurich and Geneva have become the world’s most expensive destinations for residential and commercial property developers, as the recovery in the Swiss building industry pushes up material and labour prices.
The soaring construction rates helped the country overtake Denmark as the world’s priciest building market during the past 12 months and made it almost twice as expensive as some of its European neighbours, according to a construction cost comparison report published today by EC Harris.
The high prices were driven in part by strong demand, supported by government spending on rail and road building compared to other European countries, but were also inflated by the costs of transporting heavy materials across the landlocked country.