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Henning Conle owns vast Zurich property portfolio, faces political allegations

Economy & businessEconomy
Key Points
  • Henning Conle owns nearly 74,000 square meters of residential space in Zurich, making him the city's largest private landowner.
  • His holdings, valued at around 1.2 billion Swiss francs, include prime properties and have sparked allegations of political ties to far-right parties.
  • The extent of his alleged support for the AfD and its impact on Zurich's housing market remain under scrutiny.

According to major media reports, Henning Conle owns nearly 74,000 square meters of residential space in Zurich, making him the private individual with by far the largest land ownership in the city. The second-placed person owns only about half as much area as Henning Conle. His portfolio includes 121 properties with 1,253 rental apartments in 135 houses and 18 commercial properties in Zurich.

These properties are partly in the best locations of the city, such as historic buildings in the old town rented to luxury fashion chains or villas on Zurichberg, and are also found in the districts of Unterstrass, Schwamendingen, Affoltern, and Oerlikon, where most of his apartments are located. In total, Henning Conle owns about 105,000 square meters of city land in Zurich, spread across nine city districts. He resides in an exclusive private street on Zurichberg and is suspected to have another residence in London.

The subsequent generations successfully expanded the family's real estate holdings and expanded into other European countries.

Website of the family company, Conle Property Group, Family company website

2 billion Swiss francs. The basis for his holdings stems from his father, a Social Democrat who was active in the real estate business and built thousands of social housing units in the Ruhr area post-World War II, with those properties forming the foundation for Henning Conle's current portfolio. Henning Conle is considered a suspected AfD supporter, with Frauke Petry said to have met with him multiple times from 2015 onwards.

He came under suspicion in 2019 of being behind a mysterious large donation that flowed two years earlier into an account of the AfD district association of Alice Weidel. The exact nature and evidence of Henning Conle's alleged support for the AfD remain unclear, and details of the investigation into the donation are not publicly known. His property ownership raises questions about its impact on housing affordability and availability in Zurich.

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