Estate agent in Kriens: a town at the foot of Pilatus

How does your property in Kriens compete with new builds?

Kriens has grown strongly in ten years: the housing stock rose from 13,283 dwellings (2015) to 15,672 (2025), by 541 in 2025 alone. Just under a fifth of all dwellings in Kriens have been built since 2011. If you sell today, your prospective buyers will also be viewing first occupancies.

• The flat from the 1960s. 2,692 dwellings date from the decade 1961 to 1970, more than from any other construction period. Here, documented renovations count.
• The detached house. Only 8.8% of the dwellings in Kriens are in detached houses (Einfamilienhäuser, 1,385), and from 2018 to 2024 just 18 new ones were added.
• The elevation. From the valley floor at Mattenhof up to the slopes of the Sonnenberg and Pilatus, the view and the route to the S-Bahn distinguish properties that look the same on paper.

How your property stands out from this is shown by our valuation on site.

How many dwellings stand empty in Kriens in 2026?

At the end of 2025, 30,685 people lived in Kriens, 13.5% more than in 2015 (27,046); after the city of Lucerne and Emmen, it is the third-largest municipality in the canton.

On 1 June 2026, 64 dwellings were vacant, 0.41% of the stock, against a cantonal average of 0.70%. 53 of them were for rent, eleven for sale, and none was in a new building. In 2019 there had still been 320 vacant dwellings (2.30%), 220 of them in new buildings: the market has since absorbed the more than 1,000 dwellings completed in 2018 and 2019.

Official statistics do not show purchase prices for Kriens; we derive the price individually for each property.

What makes Kriens special

Kriens lies south-west of Lucerne at the foot of Pilatus and presents itself as a town (Stadt), with a town council (Stadtrat) and a municipal parliament (Einwohnerrat). The municipality comprises the localities of Kriens (postcode 6010) and Obernau (6012). Just over half of its 27.3 km² is forest and woodland (50.8%), a fifth is settlement area (20.8%). Its neighbours are the city of Lucerne, Horw, Schwarzenberg, Malters and Hergiswil in the Canton of Nidwalden.

Industry shaped Kriens: in 1855 August Bell added a machine factory to his horsehair braiding works, and the Historical Dictionary of Switzerland calls Kriens, alongside Emmen, the most important industrial suburb of Lucerne. Together with Horw and the city of Lucerne, Kriens forms the cross-municipal LuzernSüd planning area; its Mattenhof, Schweighof and Grabenhof sites lie on Kriens territory.

From Kriens Mattenhof, the S-Bahn reaches Lucerne in five to six minutes; from the centre, bus 1 takes 14 to 15 minutes to Lucerne station. Zug is 33 to 43 minutes from Mattenhof, with a change in Lucerne.

In 2026 the town and the canton together levy 3.30 tax units without church tax (1.85 and 1.45); in 2019 the Kriens rate was still 2.00. The town itself assesses the property gains tax (Grundstückgewinnsteuer, § 25 GGStG), but its tax multiplier is 4.2 units throughout the canton (§ 23 GGStG). With your purchase price and holding period, the Lucerne property gains tax calculator works out the amount for your property in Kriens.

An example with a gain of CHF 300,000 after ten full years of ownership:

Each further full year of ownership lowers the amount by one more percentage point, by 25% at most; the relevant date is the entry in the land register.

How does Rudat AG guide your sale in Kriens?

From Baar, Rudat AG works throughout the Canton of Lucerne (in German), in Kriens as well as in the city of Lucerne. For your sale, that means:

• A value with a rationale. IAZI/CIFI provides the framework; we check the view, layout and condition during the walk-through.
• The net proceeds before the listing. Using your purchase documents, we calculate the property gains tax before the asking price is set.
• A presentation that holds its own next to new builds. Professional photos, drone images, a 360° virtual tour (in German) and our own sales documentation.

Our approach is documented in the Seetal. For the flat (in German) in Hochdorf, the buyers were confirmed twelve weeks after the market launch; they came from the Canton of Zug, and the sale contract is signed. In Hitzkirch, a 2.5-room flat with lake view (in German) was reserved in May 2026 and then sold. 26 Google reviews give us 5.0 stars.

Our guide (in German) describes how a sale proceeds, and our calculators show buyers what they can afford. You can reach Conrad Rudat via the contact form (in German) or on +41 41 763 33 66.

This information does not replace tax or legal advice; the assessment by the town of Kriens is binding.

Would you like to compare? Our list of estate agents in Kriens covers the agencies with an office in Kriens, the page Estate agent in the canton of Lucerne (in German) covers the whole canton, and Rudat AG in figures shows the verified sales of Rudat AG.

Conrad Rudat · reviewed on 21 October 2026Owner of Rudat AG, estate agent in Baar ZG. Values with the IAZI/CIFI models and guides you through to notarisation.