The Federal Council has announced that it wants to tighten the conditions under which foreigners can acquire or keep real estate in Switzerland. The most concrete measure on the table is the following: if you are a foreigner and you stop residing in Switzerland, you would have a maximum of two years to sell your main home. The stated intention is to prevent properties in the hands of people who no longer live here from remaining off the market, compounding the housing shortage. The Federal Office of Housing (OFL) has already warned that the housing shortage will worsen in 2026, and the political argument that foreigners “hoard” housing has long circulated in the Swiss public debate.
It is convenient to be precise about who this affects, because the confusion can be great. EU citizens living and working in Switzerland under the Agreement on the Free Movement of Persons (ALCP) do not currently need any special authorisation to purchase their main residence. That right does not change with the announced measures, at least for now. What changes is the regime for those who acquire property without residing in Switzerland, and the market for second homes and holiday properties in tourist areas, which is already subject to cantonal quotas under the Lex Koller. These quotas would be reduced, and sales between non-domiciled foreigners would require express authorization.
There is a contradiction in all this that is worth underlining. At the same time that a referendum is debating limiting how many foreigners can live in Switzerland, the Federal Council is proposing new restrictions for those who have already lived here and left. It is not easy for them to stay, and it is not easy for them to leave with what they bought. The Swiss real estate market is not just a market: it is a political instrument. And when politics hits the brick in Switzerland, those who end up adjusting their behavior are always the same.