What makes Zurich indispensable
From banker to Googler
Fifty years ago, anyone at a dinner in London or Paris who said they came from Zurich was taken for a banker. Today the person at the same table might work for Google or train an AI model. For Mike Hobmeier, partner at Verve Ventures, this is not a break but the next stage. Trust, precision, capital and international reach count for technology as much as they did for the financial centre. In terms of talent, innovation and capital, he puts Zurich in the same league as the Bay Area, Boston and London: much smaller, but on the same level in quality.
"Swiss banks made Zurich rich. Technology will make it indispensable."
- Mike Hobmeier, Verve Ventures
Tech companies do not come to Zurich for low costs, but for the talent that attracts more talent.
Demand holds
Wüest Partner's figures support this. Over ten years, employment in Zurich grew by 17 percent, and by more than 25 percent in the traditional office sectors. Vacant office space on offer in the city has halved to around 4 percent, and little new space is being built. Wüest Partner sees no noticeable effect of AI on the Zurich office market so far.
Looking ahead, Wüest Partner works with three scenarios, ranging from unchanged growth to a standstill. The middle one is the most plausible: AI slows the growth of office jobs, but does not stop it.
"We are in a transformation process that takes time. Demand will change, but on a scale the market can work with."
- Moritz Menges, Wüest Partner
Space is changing
What is changing are job profiles, and with them the space. Healthcare, education and research are growing. Besides offices, deep tech needs labs, clean rooms and reliable power. "You cannot turn a trading floor into a lab," says Hobmeier.
At the same time, location gains weight. Measured against the salaries of highly skilled staff, rent is a small cost item. Rents in the best locations therefore remain stable or rise slightly, while weaker locations come under pressure. What is needed are well-located properties that can take a range of uses.
What remains
For PSP this development is not new. Tech companies have been among the important tenants in the portfolio for years, from Swisscom and its data centres to Google and robotics companies in Zurich West.
Zurich remains relevant, and office space remains in demand. It is changing, but it is not disappearing. For Giacomo Balzarini, CEO of PSP Swiss Property, it is a marathon, not a sprint.
