Estate agent in Meilen: selling and valuing your house

What matters more in Meilen: the house or the plot?

Meilen stretches from the lakeshore up to the Pfannenstiel. According to the municipality, 43.7% of its area is agricultural land and only 24.3% settlement (2018); vines have been grown here since the Middle Ages. For sellers this is more than scenery: if a plot borders vineyards or the agricultural zone, hardly any building is possible in front of it, and buyers pay for that certainty.

Three situations come up particularly often in Meilen:

• The older detached house (Einfamilienhaus) on a large plot. Buyers do the sums twice: for the house as it stands, and for what the building and zoning regulations allow on the plot. If the second calculation is missing from the documents, the buyer does it alone.
• Inheritance or a change of generation. The parents bought decades ago; now siblings decide together and need a value that everyone can follow.
• Core zone or hamlet. Separate core zone plans apply to Dollikon, the Seidengasse and the hamlets of Toggwil, Burg, Grüt and Untere Aebleten; conversions there are more tightly regulated than in the residential zone.

That is why it starts with a property valuation that considers building and land separately.

What do buyers pay for houses and land in Meilen?

For Meilen the canton publishes its own median prices. In 2025, 20 detached houses (Einfamilienhäuser) were sold on the open market, at a median of around CHF 2.96 million, along with 51 flats at CHF 2.4 million (provisional). In the district of Meilen the figures were CHF 2.78 and 2.10 million, in the canton CHF 1.59 and 1.2 million; in 2015 a house in Meilen cost a median of CHF 1.87 million.

With around 20 house sales a year, the median fluctuates strongly: in 2024 it stood at CHF 2.45 million, a year later a good half a million higher. The land is more telling: per square metre of plot area, detached houses traded in 2025 at a median of CHF 4,427.

Building land (Bauland) is scarce. The building zone was 93.4% built up in 2024, and in 2025 there were only two sales of residential building land. At the same time the stock of houses is shrinking: at the end of 2015 Meilen counted 1,237 detached houses, at the end of 2025 only 1,196, even though 36 new ones were built between 2016 and 2024. The other residential buildings rose from 1,154 to 1,237. This suggests that older houses are being replaced or converted, and a detached house with grounds is becoming a rare offering.

At the end of 2025, 14,943 people lived in Meilen, 10.6% more than in 2015. On 1 June 2026, 94 dwellings stood vacant, a vacancy rate (Leerwohnungsziffer) of 1.28% (district 0.91%).

What makes Meilen special

Meilen is the principal town of the district of the same name and borders Herrliberg, Egg and Uetikon am See; Horgen lies opposite. Four «Wachten» have their own neighbourhood associations:

• Feldmeilen: towards Herrliberg, with the station Herrliberg-Feldmeilen (S6 and S16, 20 minutes to Zurich main station, Zürich HB).
• Dorfmeilen: the centre with the station, the municipal offices and the car ferry quay.
• Obermeilen: the eastern part by the lake towards Uetikon.
• Bergmeilen and the hamlets: towards the Pfannenstiel, where settlement and agriculture meet.

From Meilen station the S7 reaches Zürich Stadelhofen in 11 and Zürich HB in 14 minutes, Rapperswil in 24 minutes. Since 1933 the car ferry has linked Meilen with Horgen on the left bank: a 10-minute crossing, every 7 to 8 minutes in the morning peak.

The municipal tax multiplier (Steuerfuss) stands at 79% in 2026 (2019 to 2022: 84%), together with the cantonal tax multiplier of 95% a total of 174%, excluding church tax. Neighbours: Herrliberg 73%, Uetikon am See 84%, Egg 101%.

Sale contracts are notarised by the notary's office, land registry and bankruptcy office (Notariat, Grundbuch- und Konkursamt) of Meilen at Dorfstrasse 81, responsible for Meilen and Herrliberg.

How does Rudat AG take your house in Meilen to buyers?

Rudat AG works from Baar and sells properties in the canton of Zurich. Owner Conrad Rudat looks after every mandate himself, through to signature at the notary's office. The Zurich property gains tax calculator works out with your figures what remains after the tax.

Calculating land and house separately. We determine the market value with IAZI/CIFI, see valuation methods (in German). On site we check the zone under the building and zoning regulations of 2020 (residential zones W 1.0 to W 2.6), the core zone plan, tree protection, the distance from the forest, protection of views and the cadastre of public-law restrictions on land ownership (ÖREB-Kataster). For older houses we show two values: the house as it stands, and the plot as a building site. What the plot permits, we clarify with the building authority or an architect before we tell buyers.

Making the location visible. Professional photography, drone images of vineyards, lake and Pfannenstiel, a 360° virtual tour (in German) with Matterport and our own sales documentation with cadastral plan and zoning extract.

Evidence. On the right bank of Lake Zurich, Rudat AG has sold a penthouse in Küsnacht (in German), marketed in 5 weeks (see also Küsnacht). On Google, Rudat AG holds 5.0 stars, based on 26 reviews.

More on the process (in German) and on fees in the canton of Zurich. Telephone for a first conversation: +41 41 763 33 66.

All information is provided without guarantee. This text is no substitute for tax or legal advice; on request we involve a fiduciary and the notarising officer.

Would you like to compare? Our list of estate agents in Meilen covers the agencies with an office in Meilen, the page Estate agent in the canton of Zurich (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.