Short-term rental platforms such as Airbnb are putting growing pressure on the housing market in Swiss cities and tourist destinations. That is the starting point of a debate broadcast by SRF, the German-language Swiss public broadcaster, and reported on October 10, 2026, by SWI swissinfo.ch. On one side, tenants' associations and hoteliers are calling for a stricter framework. On the other, property owners warn against disproportionate restrictions on property rights.
An apartment rented to tourists year-round is one fewer for residents
The economic mechanism is simple. Offering an apartment to travelers can be very profitable for its owner. But a home occupied all year by a succession of short-stay guests is no longer available to residents or to people who work locally. It is this argument that has led several Swiss cities to tighten their rules.
Lucerne sets a 90-night cap, Zurich and Interlaken follow
Since 2025, Lucerne has limited short-term rentals. Apartments converted for this type of use since 2010, and which have displaced or reduced the housing stock intended for residents, may in principle not be rented out for more than 90 nights a year. Their owners must also register them. Zurich and Interlaken have since introduced similar restrictions.
For Mario Stübi, president of the Lucerne Tenants' Association, this crackdown comes late. In his view, the phenomenon is spreading at the expense of residents, and ordinary homes should not be taken off the market. He sums up his position with a principle: “Property comes with responsibilities.” Those who choose not to rent out their property in the conventional way must, he believes, accept the rules set by the community.
Less than 1% of the housing stock: a marginal share or a spreading trend?
Damian Hunkeler, an FDP member of the Lucerne Cantonal Parliament and president of the Lucerne Homeowners' Association, offers a different reading. “As a liberal, I am fundamentally opposed to laws, regulations and restrictions,” he says. He considers the 90-day limit arbitrary and points to an order of magnitude: when the rule was introduced in 2025, Lucerne had around 330 Airbnb listings, against more than 48,000 homes in the city, or less than 1% of the housing stock.
“Such a small share does not justify an additional layer of regulation, which could ultimately lead to high enforcement costs for taxpayers,” he argues. The cost argument is not theoretical: in Zurich, the city has already approved five new positions, for a period of three years, to enforce the rules.
This figure from Lucerne illustrates how difficult the debate is. Measured against the city as a whole, the weight of short-term rentals seems marginal to Damian Hunkeler. Mario Stübi, for his part, emphasizes the trend: in his view, the phenomenon is spreading at the expense of residents. The source provides neither the change in the number of listings since the rule took effect nor their distribution by neighborhood, which makes it impossible to settle between these two readings on the basis of this ratio alone.
In Valais, hoteliers call for the same rules for everyone
Concern is also spreading to mountain regions. In Valais, the canton with the largest number of registered short-term rentals, hoteliers are sounding the alarm. Olivier Andermatt, president of the Valais Hotel Association, is calling for a level playing field between hotels and other forms of tourist accommodation.
Specifically, he wants commercial short-term rentals to meet the same requirements as the hotel industry in terms of fire safety, hygiene, labor law, tourist taxes and VAT. He also points to an acute shortage of affordable housing, affecting both hotel staff and residents. He is advocating a strict registration system, managed by local authorities.
Listener testimonials gathered by SRF show the other side of the issue. One landlord says he lost 35,000 francs in unpaid rent and damage before turning to Airbnb. Another private host explains that this income helps fund his retirement. Other contributors, by contrast, worry about commercial investors who turn entire buildings into lucrative short-term accommodation. Several participants favor local solutions: the most popular destinations would need stricter rules than regions where demand is lower.
National data still to come
Despite their differences, both camps agree on one point: reliable data is essential. The National Council has backed a proposal to collect data on short-term rentals nationwide. The measure still has to be approved by the Council of States. Its supporters believe these figures will make it possible to identify where intervention is truly needed.
In the meantime, rules are being decided city by city, on the basis of partial figures. For households and property owners alike, the outcome of the vote in the Council of States will show whether the debate can soon rely on a common measure of the scale of the phenomenon.
Source: SWI swissinfo.ch, “Debate grows over Airbnb’s impact on Swiss housing,” October 10, 2026
