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GENEVA NEWS AND GUIDES

Geneva news roundup: Price hikes in 2023 and untapped housing opportunities

Higher prices that come into effect this week; curiosities on the property market; and other news from Switzerland's international city Geneva.

Geneva news roundup: Price hikes in 2023 and untapped housing opportunities
Geneva is again seen as a tourist attraction. Image by Luis Francisco Pizarro Ruiz from Pixabay

These are the price hikes Genevans will experience in 2023

New year means a higher cost of living across Switzerland, including in Geneva.

Starting January 1st, prices will go up sharply mainly for electricity and health insurance.

If you are a client of Geneva Industrial Services (SIG), expect to pay about 22 percent more on average for your electricity than you did in 2021.

In terms of health insurance premiums, they have increased by 6.4 percent for residents of Geneva — just below 6.6 percent the national average.

Geneva’s untapped housing potential

It is no secret that Geneva is suffering from the shortage of housing, and whatever properties become available are quickly snapped up, even despite prices that are higher than elsewhere in Switzerland.

READ MORE: Why is Geneva’s rent the highest in Switzerland?

However, there are lesser-known housing options in the canton — the so-called “border houses.”

As the name suggests, these small buildings located near Geneva’s border points with France used to house border guards, but many have been abandoned and have been put up for sale by the government. 

The latest one is a three-story villa in Avusy, which is listed for about 2 million francs, according to Tribune de Genève.

While it is not an exorbitant price for a property of this size in Geneva, the house is reportedly quite dilapidated and in need of extensive renovation.

However, given the scarcity of housing and the cost of rents in Geneva, this and other old border properties may represent an untapped housing market in the canton.

Foreign tourists are flocking to Geneva again

After two years of the pandemic-related slowdown, Geneva is again seeing more tourists from abroad.

While 2019 levels have not been reached, city  officials say the number of visitors since April 2022 is close to pre-Covid levels.

“It’s a ‘restart’ tourism,” Jean-Vital Domézon, president of the Société des hôteliers de Genève, said in an interview with RTS public broadcaster, adding that the new wave of tourists is a result of the two-year-long “frustration” over travel restrictions.

How far from Geneva can public employees live?

Usually, people try to live close to their workplace, in order to cut the commuting time to the minimum.

But the residence of the headmistress of four primary schools in the Geneva municipality of  Chêne-Bourg is raising eyebrows: she lives…300 kilometres away, in Colmar, France.

Because it takes at least three hours to drive from the Alsace city to Geneva, the headmistress is teleworking from her home several days a week and has never even resided in the canton.

As reported by the RTS public broadcaster on Friday, a local deputy submitted an urgent question to the Geneva State Council to find out whether such an arrangement for a public employee is legal.

It turns out that employees of the cantonal administration, including schools, can live wherever they want.

Those employed by the city of Geneva, on the other hand, face stricter rules: they must reside in a defined geographical area, which includes part of neighbouring France and the canton of Vaud.
 
 
 
 

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TRAVEL NEWS

How Geneva plans to expand public transport services

Geneva's bus and tram network covers not only the Swiss city and canton, but some parts of the neighbouring French communities as well.

How Geneva plans to expand public transport services

The Geneva parliament approved on Friday the action plan launched by the local government, which calls for a 29-percent increase in public transport services (TPG) throughout the Swiss canton — and beyond.

Specifically, it provides for more trams, including cross-border ones, as well as further electrification of buses.

The capacity of the Léman Express train will also be strengthened.

Expansion of this particular link is important to the region, as it connects the Geneva area with neighbouring France.

The route comprises 45 stations and 230 kilometres of track — extending beyond the Geneva canton borders into Vaud as well as France. 

This news comes just days after Geneva officials announced they will use the canton’s 1.4-million-franc budget surplus to offer free transport for people up to 24 years of age, in addition to lowering taxes.

READ ALSO: Geneva to cut taxes and make public transport free for young people 

All-party agreement

The public network expansion project met with some opposition during the debate period.

While some MPs, like those from the centre-right Liberal-Radical (PLR) party believed that this ambitious plan was necessary to accommodate growing population growth, the right-wing Swiss People’s Party (SVP) was against the project because it would impact the automobile industry.

In the end, however, resolution approving this action plan was unanimously accepted.

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