{"id":161425,"date":"2026-07-18T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.immo-invest.ch\/?p=161425"},"modified":"2026-07-16T11:15:44","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T09:15:44","slug":"lex-koller-entzweit-wohnpolitik-und-kapitalmarkt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stage.immo-invest.ch\/en\/lex-koller-entzweit-wohnpolitik-und-kapitalmarkt\/","title":{"rendered":"Lex Koller Pits Housing Policy Against the Capital Market"},"content":{"rendered":"

The public comment period for a partial revision—through which the Federal Council aims to once again impose stricter restrictions on the acquisition of real estate<\/span> by foreign nationals in several sectors—ran through July 15, 2026. The initiative is designed as an accompanying measure for housing policy and follows the decision of April 15, 2026, to officially submit the draft for consultation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

The focus is on four measures with a direct impact on the real estate<\/span> market. In the future, third-country nationals will once again need a permit to purchase a primary residence in Switzerland. Anyone who later gives up their residence would have to sell the property within two years. In addition, the Federal Council intends to impose stricter limits on purchases of vacation homes and units in apartment hotels by foreign nationals, end the permit-free acquisition of commercial properties as pure capital investments, and bring publicly traded residential real estate<\/span> companies as well as regularly traded real estate<\/span> funds and real estate<\/span> SICAVs back under the scope of the Lex Koller.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Debate Over the Right Instrument
<\/strong>Politically, the proposal cuts across the usual party lines. The SP primarily supports closing the stock market loophole and argues that foreign capital has so far been able to flow into the Swiss housing market without a permit via listed vehicles. The SVP also backs the stricter measures and, in its statement of July 14, 2026, even calls for more far-reaching rules, including the inclusion of EU citizens and cross-border commuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Criticism, however, comes from mountain and tourism regions as well as from the real estate<\/span> industry. The SAB fundamentally opposes the stricter regulations, as stated in its position paper dated July 2, 2026, and warns of negative consequences for mountain areas and rural regions. Particularly controversial are the proposed restrictions on vacation rentals and apartment hotels, as they could slow investment in tourism-dependent communities without directly addressing the housing shortage in urban centers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Capital Market Becomes a Sticking Point
<\/strong>For publicly traded real estate<\/span> companies and funds, the planned intervention in tradable equity interests is particularly sensitive. This means the revision would affect not only transactions involving individual properties but also capital market financing for residential real estate<\/span> companies. From the industry’s perspective, this is precisely the bill’s most significant disruption<\/span> to the system, as tradability, the investor base, and refinancing would be subject to stricter regulation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Ironically, it is the part of the bill that eases regulations that is receiving broad support. In parallel with the tightening of regulations, the Federal Council intends to implement the Schmid motion 22.4413 and facilitate the acquisition of employee housing for foreign-controlled hotels. In tourist communities, this exception addresses an acute operational problem, as affordable housing for employees is lacking in many places and staff housing is becoming an increasingly important location factor.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On April 15, 2026, the Federal Council launched a public consultation on tightening the Lex Koller. The draft proposal addresses primary residences owned by third-country nationals, vacation homes, commercial properties, and publicly traded residential real estate companies, thereby sparking debate over housing protection, tourism financing, and marketability.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":161426,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_surecart_dashboard_logo_width":"180px","_surecart_dashboard_show_logo":true,"_surecart_dashboard_navigation_orders":true,"_surecart_dashboard_navigation_invoices":true,"_surecart_dashboard_navigation_subscriptions":true,"_surecart_dashboard_navigation_downloads":true,"_surecart_dashboard_navigation_billing":true,"_surecart_dashboard_navigation_account":true,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[55996,56026,55968,56002,22305],"tags":[18009,13270,12525,12526,58618,12528,60574,60575,13228],"class_list":["post-161425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hotels-tourism","category-planning-development","category-real-estate-funds-reits-pension-funds","category-residential","category-switzerland","tag-ferienwohnungen-en","tag-immobilienfonds-en","tag-immoinvest-en","tag-immonews-en","tag-lex-koller","tag-news-en","tag-tourismusgemeinden","tag-vernehmlassung","tag-wohnungsmarkt-en"],"acf":{"bild_mit_ki_erstellt_worden":["Ja"],"lead":"On April 15, 2026, the Federal Council launched a public consultation on tightening the Lex Koller. The draft proposal addresses primary residences owned by third-country nationals, vacation homes, commercial properties, and publicly traded residential real estate companies, thereby sparking debate over housing protection, tourism financing, and marketability.","autor":"","ort":"","bildunterschrift":"","bild_im_grid":false,"gallerie":"","newsim":"3375","zusammenfassung":""},"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/stage.immo-invest.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Lex-Koller-entzweit-Wohnpolitik-und-Kapitalmarkt-immo-invest-336x168.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stage.immo-invest.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161425","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stage.immo-invest.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stage.immo-invest.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.immo-invest.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.immo-invest.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=161425"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/stage.immo-invest.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161425\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":161432,"href":"https:\/\/stage.immo-invest.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161425\/revisions\/161432"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.immo-invest.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/161426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stage.immo-invest.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.immo-invest.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.immo-invest.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}