Buying a house in Switzerland
Buying a house anywhere is a complicated process and Switzerland is no exception. The tax laws however are a little different to what one might be used to elsewhere. The most important legal/cultural difference is that one can potentially keep 65% of their initial mortgage forever, i.e. there is no legal requirement to pay off the mortgage. This is actually a simple reflection of the fact that given the cost of housing relative to income, for most people it is almost impossible to actually pay off the mortgage in a realistic amount of time :). Moreover, the tax laws are framed as such that it can potentially make more sense to keep the mortage, invest the money in higher returns and at the same time use the interest payments to offset income tax!