Cooperative flats in Bern: overview and registration

In Bern too it is tight, and there is no central registration office for all cooperatives. Each cooperative decides for itself. This article shows you where to find the cooperatives and how to proceed.

The situation in Bern

The city statistics reported a vacancy rate of 0.44 percent for 2026, unchanged from the previous year. The Bern-Solothurn regional association of Wohnbaugenossenschaften Schweiz counts over 200 non-profit housing providers with more than 25'000 flats, but across the whole region, not just the city.

Finding cooperatives in Bern

The regional association publishes a member list with addresses and usually a website. It points out that the list is not complete because members have to agree to being named on the internet. The list is not organised by region; you recognise Bern entries by the postcode 30xx.

Examples from the list with an address in the city of Bern: Baugenossenschaft Aare Bern, Baugenossenschaft BERNA, Baugenossenschaft Brünnen-Eichholz, FAMBAU, Eisenbahner-Baugenossenschaft Bern, WOGENO Bern, Hauptstadt-Genossenschaft, Siedlungsgenossenschaft Wylergut, Wohnbaugenossenschaft Via Felsenau and Wohnbaugenossenschaft Warmbächli. This is a selection, not a ranking.

Municipal flats

Besides the cooperatives, the city lets its own flats through Immobilien Stadt Bern. Part of them run under "Günstiger Wohnraum mit Vermietungskriterien" (affordable housing with letting criteria). Criteria apply that you can read in the city's leaflet; they concern, among other things, the connection to the city of Bern. The exact limits change, so read them directly there.

How to proceed

• Go through the member list and note the cooperatives in your desired neighbourhoods.
• Check for each cooperative whether it keeps a waiting list or advertises available flats on its website. The umbrella association notes that some no longer have waiting lists and advertise available flats online.
• Where a waiting list exists: register early and renew the entry as required.
• Prepare your file (debt enforcement register extract, proof of income, ID copy, as PDFs).
• Watch new estates: new buildings have the most flats to let, but they are more expensive than older ones.
• Stay in touch with the regional association. It has a "Mitglied werden" page and a contact point for questions about cooperative housing.

Alerts instead of constant refreshing

With over two dozen cooperatives in the city of Bern alone, it is tedious to open every website daily. Wohnify takes that off your hands and tells you about new listings (CHF 9 per month, 7 days free). You find our Bern overview under Cooperative flats Bern. You can just as well set a weekly rhythm and check the websites yourself.

Worth a look around Bern too

Not every cooperative is based in the city. The regional association's member list names in the agglomeration, among others, Wohnbaugenossenschaft Bantiger (Ostermundigen/Rüfenacht), Wohnbaugenossenschaft Oberfeld (Ostermundigen), Beau-Site and Schweizerhubel (Zollikofen), Genossenschaft Lutertalpark (Bolligen) and LEWO AG (Muri bei Bern).

In 2015 the director of the Verband Wohnbaugenossenschaften told SRF that demand was lower in the countryside and that land for new cooperative buildings was easier to find there. He also advised applying again and again, because there are changes and some luck is involved. The statement is eleven years old, but the basic idea still holds: a wider search radius increases your choice.

What you should ask the cooperative

Each cooperative has its own statutes and its own letting regulations. Before you apply or have yourself put on a list, clarify these points:

• Is there a waiting list, and how is it renewed?
• Do I have to become a member first, and how high is the share capital?
• Is there a minimum occupancy (often "persons plus one" applies)?
• Do income or asset limits apply?
• Where do you advertise available flats?

A routine that works in 20 minutes a week

This is a recommendation from us, not a rule: set a fixed time once a week. Go through the ten to fifteen cooperatives in your desired neighbourhoods, look under "Wohnen" or "Freie Wohnungen" at each, and note whether a waiting list exists there. Register wherever possible and set a date in your calendar to renew the entries. This way you do not lose a place because an entry lapsed.

If a cooperative keeps no waiting list and only publishes listings, only regularity helps. Check these websites more often than once a week, ideally, or have yourself notified.

More on the topic

• Finding a cooperative flat: the overview
• Applying: documents and typical mistakes
• Cooperative directory