> I think this recently changed, though

Yes, it will take effect in 2028. Although that's unfortunate, it was a good tax to equalise tax treatment of owners vs renters.

The Swiss market is also different in many ways: no capital gains taxes except on real estate, which really shifts the invest against house appreciation towards renting.

> Basically farmers and the upper quartile of income earners are the majority of owners.

I'm not certain the second part is very true. Of course, given how prices are you need to be rich to buy, but I think the bias is a lot more towards age than income: those that own are overwhelmingly those that bought a long time ago or inherited.

Finally, rent control results in some crazy price to rent ratios in the big cities: Zürich is around 35. But as usual with rent control, it's if you can find the right place.