Heat pumps reach a quarter of Swiss residential buildings

One in four Swiss residential buildings had a heat pump by 31 December 2025, according to figures released by the Federal Statistical Office. The technology has expanded rapidly across the country’s housing stock, rising sixfold since 2000 and becoming the heating system in three-quarters of properties built during the past decade.

The shift is reshaping a housing sector that still relies heavily on fossil fuels. Switzerland had 1.8 million residential buildings and 4.88 million dwellings at the end of 2025. Heating oil remained the largest single source, serving 33% of buildings, while gas supplied another 17%. Together, fossil fuels heated about half of the country’s residential buildings.

The figures show why the transition remains unfinished. New construction is moving quickly toward heat pumps, yet many older buildings continue to depend on oil or gas boilers. Replacing those systems involves more than installing new equipment. Owners may need to improve insulation, adapt internal heating systems and secure approvals, particularly in dense urban areas or protected buildings.

The FSO described the decline in heating oil’s role over the past four decades as “steady”. The latest figures place that gradual change alongside a much faster rise in heat pumps, especially among newer homes.

Heat pumps accounted for 25% of residential buildings in 2025, while oil and gas together accounted for 50%. The national figures capture a transition that is advancing at different speeds depending on the age, location and type of property.

Detached houses are a major part of the change. Thirty percent of detached homes had a heat pump in 2025. More than one million residential buildings in Switzerland are detached houses, and 55% of them are occupied by one or two people. Their lower density can make an outdoor unit and associated technical work easier to accommodate than in a large apartment block, although installation costs and the condition of the building remain important factors.

Wood supplied heating to 12% of buildings, while electricity accounted for 7%. These figures sit alongside the heat pump share and reflect the range of systems used across Switzerland, from older rural homes to recently built urban developments.

The building age pattern is particularly clear. Heat pumps served 75% of properties built in the past ten years. That indicates how strongly new construction is influencing the national average, while also highlighting the scale of work required to change the existing stock.

Gas heating varies sharply between Swiss cities and rural communities. The FSO recorded gas as the heating source for 29% of dwellings in urban municipalities, compared with 4% in rural municipalities. The difference reflects the reach of gas networks and the concentration of apartment buildings in towns and cities.

Heating oil has a broader national footprint. It remained the country’s leading heating source in 2025, serving 33% of residential buildings. The FSO said its share has fallen steadily over the past 40 years, but the remaining stock is large because oil boilers are spread through buildings of many types and ages.

Looking at households rather than buildings produces another important measure. Fossil fuels heated 58% of Swiss households in 2025, including 32% with oil and 25% with gas. Heat pumps served 22% of households, a lower share than the 25% recorded across buildings.

That difference reflects the structure of the housing market. A building can contain multiple dwellings, and the national result changes depending on whether the unit of measurement is the building, the dwelling or the household. For energy policy, all three views matter. They show where systems are installed, where people live and how many households remain tied to fossil heating.

The average Swiss occupied dwelling measured 102 square metres in 2025. The size of homes helps frame the practical choices facing owners, tenants and building managers as heating systems change.

The FSO reported 46.6 square metres of living space per person, a figure that has remained stable since 2021 after rising for many years. Regional differences persist. Residents in the Lake Geneva region averaged 42.5 square metres per person, while Eastern Switzerland reached 49.7 square metres and Ticino 49.8 square metres.

More than half of all dwellings, 54%, had three or four rooms. The average residential building measured 174 square metres, while apartment blocks built during the past decade averaged 231 square metres. Those newer blocks are also where heat pumps are most common, suggesting that building design and heating choices are increasingly being made together.

For existing homes, the route is less uniform. A heat pump’s performance depends on the building envelope, the heating distribution system and local conditions. Small detached houses, large apartment blocks and older properties in historic centres each present different technical and financial decisions. The national statistics show the scale of adoption, while the housing data explains why the remaining transition cannot follow a single template.

Switzerland enters the next phase of the heating transition with 58% of households still using fossil fuels. Heat pumps have established a strong position in new construction and now serve a quarter of residential buildings, yet the existing stock will determine how quickly the national balance changes.

The figures point to two simultaneous tasks. New projects must maintain the current momentum, with heat pumps already installed in 75% of properties built over the past decade. Existing buildings require replacement decisions as oil and gas boilers age, alongside upgrades that can make low-temperature heating more effective.

The country’s 4.88 million dwellings also mean that the transition will affect tenants, cooperatives, private landlords and condominium owners. A building-level change can involve many households, while decisions in a detached house may rest with one owner. Regional gas use adds another layer, with urban municipalities far more connected to gas networks than rural ones.

The FSO data does not set out a timetable for completing the shift. It does establish the current baseline: heat pumps have moved from a marginal technology in 2000 to a system used in one quarter of residential buildings, while oil and gas remain embedded in about half. Future progress will be measured against both figures.