Everyone is talking about the foreign buyer. The foreign seller has more to lose.

A British couple have owned an apartment in a Valais ski resort for fifteen years. They live in London, the children rarely come any more, and they ask their agent whether it is time to sell. Today they would probably sell to another buyer from abroad, perhaps an American family. The purchase needs a permit, but it does not count against the canton’s annual quota. Under the Federal Council’s draft, that same sale would count again, against a quota 60% smaller.

Most coverage of the Lex Koller reform reads it as a buyer’s problem. I read it differently. Anyone who owns a Swiss holiday home as a person abroad could find fewer buyers tomorrow. And those owners are the stock in trade of many agencies in the mountains.

First: none of this is law yet.

Lex Koller is the Swiss federal law that restricts property purchases by people abroad. Two tightening tracks are under way, and neither is finished. On 15 April 2026 the Federal Council put a draft out to consultation, which closed on 15 July 2026. The responses have been public since 27 July, but no bill has gone to Parliament yet. Separately, on 22 September 2026 the National Council adopted Thomas Aeschi’s motion 24.3961 by 123 votes to 54, with 18 abstentions. It would take the law largely back to the stricter “Lex Friedrich” of 1985. The Federal Council recommends rejecting it, and the Council of States decides next. Any law that comes out of either track can be challenged by referendum.

What the Federal Council’s draft proposes.

• Main homes for non-EU/EFTA nationals. Someone from outside the EU and EFTA who holds a B permit would need authorisation to buy a main home. If they give up their residence, they would have to sell within two years. Holders of a C permit are not treated as persons abroad.
• Fewer holiday-home quotas. The national ceiling falls from 1,500 to 750 units a year. 150 are held in reserve, so at most 600 would go to the cantons.
• Sales between foreigners count again. When one person abroad sells a holiday home to another, the quota would be charged. Over the last ten years that averaged around 243 sales a year.
• Commercial property only for own use. Buying to let would no longer be possible for persons abroad.
• Listed real estate investments. Listed residential property companies and traded shares in real estate funds and SICAVs would in principle be closed to persons abroad.

The numbers that matter in the mountains.

The explanatory report splits the 600 units using today’s allocation key and sets them against the average permits granted each year from 2016 to 2025, sales between persons abroad included:

• Valais (Verbier, Zermatt, Crans-Montana): 330 units today, 132 tomorrow. Average granted: 334.
• Graubünden (St. Moritz, Davos, Klosters): 290 today, 116 tomorrow. Average granted: 166.
• Ticino: 195 today, 78 tomorrow. Average granted: 110.
• Vaud: 175 today, 70 tomorrow. Average granted: 80.
• Bern, home to Gstaad: 140 today, 56 tomorrow. Average granted: 68.5.

The report estimates that at least around 196 holiday-home purchases by persons abroad could disappear each year across Switzerland, and around 307 in the worst case. Unused units from other cantons could absorb part of the gap, but by this calculation not all of it. Valais alone would be about 200 units a year short.

The value of a holiday home also depends on who will still be allowed to buy it tomorrow.

The small detail in the transitional provisions.

One sentence at the end of the draft deserves more attention than it gets. The amendment would also apply to transactions concluded before it enters into force but not yet completed, or not yet finally decided. For developers selling off-plan to foreign buyers today, that is not a footnote. Whether a given contract could be affected is a question for your lawyer before signing, not after.

The buyer few people think about in Zurich and Geneva.

The second tightening is not about the mountains. An American executive with a B permit who buys a flat in Zug to live in needs no authorisation today. Under the draft, she would. If she leaves, she would have to sell within two years and, according to the regulatory impact assessment, the same would apply to the first home when moving within Switzerland. The study estimates around 1,051 potentially affected purchases a year. For agents in Zurich, Zug, Geneva and Lausanne, this belongs in the first conversation, not at the notary’s office.

My position.

I would not advise anyone to sell out of fear. UBS expects a tighter Lex Koller to have only a limited impact on demand for holiday homes. And the study commissioned by the Federal Office of Justice itself concludes that tightening the investment market does not solve the housing shortage. Parliament can still change the proposal substantially.

But I would not advise anyone to wait without knowing how much of their business depends on persons abroad either. The agency that explains this to its owners first, calmly, with dates and sources, will win the next mandate. The one that stays silent leaves that conversation to someone else.

What this means for the website and the process.

Buyers in New York, Dubai or London ask Google whether they can buy in Switzerland long before they call an agent. Many of the answers they find are out of date. A page per canton or resort, in the buyer’s language, dated, sourced and stating that a lawyer reviews each case, is one of the few pieces of content that attracts exactly the right people.

Add an enquiry form that asks early what matters: nationality, residence, permit. That way, an enquiry from a German citizen living in Zurich, who needs no authorisation, does not land in the same pile as one from a buyer in Singapore looking for a holiday home who will need a quota unit. The team saves hours, and the client is spared false hopes.

Before the Council of States decides.

1. This week

   Flag the exposed portfolio

   Which properties belong to persons abroad? Which buyers in discussion are non-EU/EFTA nationals with a B permit?

2. This month

   Inform the owners

   A short, dated letter to foreign owners: what is proposed, what is still open, when you will be back in touch.

3. Before new off-plan sales

   Have the transitional provision reviewed

   With your lawyer, for every contract that might complete after a possible entry into force.

4. Ongoing

   Keep the page current

   Add every parliamentary step with its date. On this subject, an outdated page does more harm than no page.

Look at your portfolio with a different question. Not how many foreign buyers you have, but how many foreign sellers, and how many of them know the reform could affect them too, not only those who buy.

If one of them calls tomorrow to ask whether they should sell first, what would you tell them? And do you have it in writing, in their language, with the caveat that none of this is law yet?

If you would like me to review your website, your enquiries and your processes in the light of this reform, start with the Strategic Diagnostic. The legal assessment of each transaction is a matter for your lawyer.