The mortgage market in Switzerland continued to grow to over CHF 1'200 billion in 2022, even after the rise in interest rates. Pension funds remained the growth champions.

The mortgage market grew by a further 39 billion Swiss francs to 1'211 billion Swiss francs (+3.4%) in 2022. During the last seven years, the growth of the total mortgage market amounted to almost 240 billion Swiss francs or a remarkable 24.5%. The trillion mark (1'000 billion) was surpassed in 2016. The average mortgage market growth per year was around 3% and continued in 2022 despite interest rate increases. In the current year 2023, there are signs of further growth on a slightly weaker scale. The growth of the individual provider groups is developing differently, as reported by the mortgage broker MoneyPark.

Banks are the big winners

The big winners are the banks, apart from the big banks, which remain at the previous year's level. The portfolios of Credit Suisse and UBS recorded an insignificant decrease of CHF 66 million in 2022 (-0.0%). With a growth of 5.1%, the cantonal banks again slightly exceeded the previous year's growth (+5%). The cantonal banks have grown by almost 35% since 2015 (CHF 114 billion). They have thus taken around half of the market growth on their books. The Raiffeisen banks, regional banks, savings banks, and other smaller institutions benefited from the general market growth and the restraint of the big banks. They grew above market. All banks together remain the dominant players with a 95% share of the mortgage market.

Insurance companies are among the losers

Insurance companies are among the losers, having once again (deliberately) shed mortgage volume - this time by a whopping 3%. They lost 2.9% of their mortgage volume in 2022. A reduction of the portfolios was certainly planned; however, they are making very competitive offers in the current year, which could indicate to MoneyPark that they overshot in the reduction and now want to regain market share.

Pension funds remain the growth champions

Following growth of 10% in the previous year, pension funds again grew significantly faster than the market in 2022, at +5.8%. Compared to 2015, they have almost doubled their volume. This makes them the growth champions of recent years, but they still do not exceed an overall market share of 2%. The growth is likely to be due to the intermediaries who provide these players with access to the mortgage asset class. Around two-thirds of all large pension funds are now invested in mortgages. Only time will tell whether the rapid growth will continue or whether a saturation effect will set in.