Heat pumps now serve one in four Swiss residential buildings

One in four Swiss residential buildings had a heat pump in 2025, marking a sixfold increase from 2000 and a clear shift in the country’s heating market. The Federal Statistical Office data show that heat pumps are moving from a specialist choice into the mainstream of Swiss construction.

The change is especially visible in newer housing. Three-quarters of homes built during the past decade use a heat pump, making the technology the leading heating system in recent construction. New buildings therefore offer the clearest picture of where the market is heading, even as the wider housing stock changes more slowly.

The scale of the remaining challenge is substantial. Switzerland has approximately 1.8 million residential buildings, and oil still heats 33% of them. Gas accounts for another 17%. Together, those fuels serve about half of the building stock.

Heat pumps accounted for 25% of buildings, while wood supplied heat to 12% and electricity to 7%. The figures describe a housing system in transition, with replacement rates, renovation decisions and local infrastructure shaping how quickly older buildings move away from fossil fuels.

Oil remains the most common heating source in Switzerland, despite its long decline. It supplied heat to 33% of residential buildings in 2025, down from a much larger role four decades ago. Gas served 17%, while heat pumps reached 25%.

The building figures become less favourable when measured by households. Only 22% of Swiss households were heated by a heat pump in 2025. Fossil fuels still covered 58% of households, including 32% using oil and 25% using gas.

The gap comes from the structure of Swiss housing. A single apartment building can contain dozens of homes, so one gas or oil system may serve many households at once. Detached houses, by contrast, are more likely to have their own heating system. Heat pumps served 30% of detached houses, above the national building average.

This distinction matters for policy and for public understanding. A quarter of buildings with heat pumps does not mean a quarter of all Swiss homes have made the switch. Urban apartment blocks, older properties and shared heating systems remain major parts of the national transition.

Swiss heating choices vary sharply between urban and rural municipalities. Gas supplied heat to 29% of urban buildings, according to the Federal Statistical Office, but only 4% of rural buildings. The difference reflects the reach of gas networks, building density and the prevalence of shared heating systems in cities.

Rural areas contain more detached homes, where heat pumps are already installed in 30% of buildings. Owners replacing an individual oil boiler can make a direct technology choice, while apartment blocks often require agreement among owners, building-level investment and careful planning around existing energy infrastructure.

Canton-level heating patterns follow these wider geographic differences, although the source data show a varied national map rather than one uniform Swiss model. Construction age also plays a decisive role. In homes built within the last decade, heat pumps are used in 75% of buildings, a rate far above the overall building stock.

The figures point to different tasks in different places. New construction is rapidly adopting heat pumps. The harder work lies in older urban and suburban buildings, where replacing a shared fossil-fuel system can involve several households, major capital spending and changes to the building itself.