** "Real estate risk in Zurich - the highest in the world"

The risk of a bubble in the real estate market has significantly decreased worldwide, but Zurich and Tokyo remain at risk. According to the2023 Global Real Estate Bubble Index published on Wednesday by UBS Global Real Estate, while nine out of25 cities studied were at risk last year, only two remain this year: Zurich and Tokyo. With a bubble risk score of1.71, Zurich tops the ranking, ahead of Tokyo (1.65), with the bubble risk starting from1.5.

The cities of Toronto, Frankfurt, Munich, Hong Kong, Vancouver, Amsterdam, and Tel Aviv have bid farewell to the risk zone over the past year. The researchers link the decrease in risks primarily to the decline in real estate prices. Inflation-adjusted average prices have declined by5% in the cities under study since mid-2022. "Many cities have lost the gains in prices that they had acquired during the pandemic. On average, real prices have now almost returned to the level of mid-2020", says Claudio Saputelli, Head of Real Estate at the Zurich office of UBS Global Wealth Management.

Besides high inflation in many countries, the decrease in prices is also due to a significant increase in interest rates.