Pension funds have become major actors in real estate development (Crevoisier et al., 2025). In Switzerland in particular, pension funds can invest up to 30% of total wealth in real estate. In 2025, pension funds had over CHF120 billion invested in real estate (Swisscanto, 2025). Residential property—or housing—constitutes 60% of real estate portfolio. Despite this enormous availability of capital, we know surprisingly little about the role of pension funds in urban development (Theurillat et al., 2010). In this project, we aim to analyse how the investment strategies of pension funds shape the development of Swiss cities in general and housing markets in particular.

The worldwide emergence of institutional investors as landlords has been referred to as "global corporate landlordism" (Vidal et al., 2025). Scholars have pointed out how the financialization of housing and the increasingly powerful role of institutional investors, including pension funds, in housing markets is linked to a loss of affordable housing, evictions, social displacement, and loss of residential quality (Banti & Phylaktis, 2025; Fields & Uffer, 2016; García-Lamarca, 2021). Also in Switzerland, newspaper headlines have referred to how pension funds in cities like Zurich and Geneva are implicated in mass evictions and loss of affordable housing.

At the same time, pension funds are highly stable financial actors. Rather than seeking short-term profit maximization, they prioritize secure, long-term returns on their investments. They are furthermore sensitive to reputational risks and public (Parish, 2023). Consequently, pension funds worldwide have increasingly adopted Environmental and Social Governance (ESG) principles and are beginning to evaluate the environmental and social sustainability impacts of their investment portfolios.

We aim to better understand the role of pension funds in housing dynamics. By focusing on this key actor, we seek to examine how the investment strategies of financial actors shape the development of housing in Swiss cities. Our research involves two steps: first, we aim to understand the investment strategies of pension funds and related decision-making processes to map how, where, and why pension funds invest in housing. Second, we will relate these findings to broader patterns of urbanization, housing affordability, and social displacement. Our methods include a qualitative survey among major pension funds, expert interviews and focus groups, along with the analysis of existing grey literature and documents. By doing so, we seek not only to highlight the potential negative impacts of pension funds' investment strategies but also to explore how they can contribute to more socially and environmentally sustainable housing dynamics.

References:

Banti, C., & Phylaktis, K. (2025). Are institutional investors the culprit of rising global house prices? Real Estate Economics, 53(2), 210–265. https://doi.org/10.1111/1540-6229.12514

Crevoisier, O., Theurillat, T., Rota, M., Segessemann, A., & Merckhoffer, A. (2025). The role of real estate in the development of cities and regions: Territorial real estate and economic systems. Progress in Economic Geography, 3(1), 100040. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.peg.2025.100040

Fields, D., & Uffer, S. (2016). The financialisation of rental housing: A comparative analysis of New York City and Berlin. Urban Studies, 53(7), 1486–1502. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042098014543704

García-Lamarca, M. (2021). Real estate crisis resolution regimes and residential REITs: Emerging socio-spatial impacts in Barcelona. Housing Studies, 36(9), 1407–1426. https://doi.org/10.1080/02673037.2020.1769034

Parish, J. (2023). Fiduciary Activism From Below: Green Gentrification, Pension Finance, and the Possibility of Just Urban Futures. Urban Planning, 8(1), 414–425. https://doi.org/10.17645/up.v8i1.6119

Swisscanto. (2025). Schweizer Pensionskassenstudie 2025. Zürcher Kantonalbank.

Theurillat, T., Corpataux, J., & Crevoisier, O. (2010). Property Sector Financialization: The Case of Swiss Pension Funds (1992–2005). European Planning Studies, 18(2), 189–212. https://doi.org/10.1080/09654310903491507

Vidal, L., Gil, J., & Martínez, M. A. (2025). Global corporate landlordism and a new cycle of tenant contention. Urban Studies, 62(16), 3113–3128. https://doi.org/10.1177/00420980251379359