Real estate as a safe value? A look at the history books shows otherwise
Real estate is praised as a safe value. But the consequences of the last turnaround in interest rates are being forgotten.
Danger! Real estate can be risky.
Image: Michael Buholzer/Keystone (Zurich, May 28, 2023)
Real estate boomed in the 1980s. Then interest rates shot up. What happened afterwards in the 1990s shows that real estate, which is otherwise always praised as a safe investment, can be very risky. Research in the Swiss media archive unearths stories about collapsing prices and bank excesses, disputes over mortgage interest rates and foreclosures, as well as a debt enforcement officer with nerves of steel.
