What Switzerland Is Actually Proposing
On April 15, 2026, the Swiss Federal Council opened public consultation on the biggest tightening of Lex Koller — the federal law restricting real estate purchases by people abroad — in decades. Right now, Americans holding a C permit (Switzerland's settlement permit, granted after several years of residence) can buy property just like a Swiss citizen. Americans with a B permit (the renewable residence permit most working expats hold) can currently buy one primary residence without needing special authorization. The proposal would change that second group's situation significantly: non-EU/EFTA nationals, including Americans, would need a permit from the authorities before buying even a primary home, no matter how long they've lived here.
- Permit requirement: B permit holders (and other non-EU/EFTA nationals) would need authorization before buying a primary residence, not just C permit holders being exempt
- Mandatory sale within two years if the owner leaves Switzerland or changes how the property is used
- Holiday-home purchase quotas cut roughly 60%, from 1,500 units annually to 600
- Commercial property purchases blocked when the purpose is purely investment, not business use
Why This Matters More If You Hold a B Permit
If you're a green-card holder or US citizen living in Switzerland on a B permit, this proposal touches you directly in a way it doesn't touch C permit holders. Today, buying your primary home is relatively straightforward once you clear financing. Under the proposed rules, you'd need to secure a permit before you could complete a purchase at all — and if your career or family situation later takes you back to the US, or to another country, you'd be required to sell within two years rather than holding the property indefinitely. For a fuller walkthrough of how current Lex Koller rules interact with mortgages and US tax reporting, see Buying a Home in Switzerland as a US Citizen: Mortgages, Lex Koller, and US Tax Implications.
This Is Still a Proposal, Not Law
Public consultation runs until July 15, 2026. If the Federal Council decides to move forward, the earliest realistic implementation is 2027 or 2028, after parliamentary review. Nothing changes for buyers today — but it's worth understanding the direction of travel before you commit to a purchase timeline.
The Financing Reality Already Makes This Harder
Even before any new permit requirement, Swiss banks are already cautious with American buyers. Non-resident and foreign-currency-income buyers typically face down payment requirements of 35–50%, compared to roughly 20% for Swiss residents with local income. Banks also apply an affordability test — mortgage costs plus maintenance plus amortization generally can't exceed about a third of gross income, calculated using an imputed interest rate around 5% rather than today's actual rate. If your income is paid in US dollars rather than Swiss francs, expect banks to apply a 20–40% haircut to account for currency risk before they calculate what you can borrow.
35–50%
Typical down payment Swiss banks require from non-resident or foreign-income buyers, versus roughly 20% for Swiss residents
What Doesn't Change: The US Tax Picture
None of this proposal touches how the IRS treats a Swiss home you already own or plan to buy. Owning Swiss property doesn't trigger any special US filing requirement on its own. If you rent it out, that income is taxable on your US return, though Swiss taxes paid on it are generally creditable using Form 1116 (the foreign tax credit form that helps prevent double taxation). If you sell, capital gains are taxable in the US as well, again with a potential credit for Swiss tax paid. Mortgage interest on a personal residence generally isn't deductible on your US return the way it might be for a primary US home. And if you're doing any broader estate or cross-border planning, keep in mind that Swiss property is included in the valuation of your US estate — a detail covered in more depth in Estate Planning for US Expats in Switzerland: Why It Matters and How to Get It Right.
If You Already Own a Home in Switzerland
If you bought your primary residence under today's rules, the proposal as written wouldn't retroactively force a sale — the mandatory two-year sale clause applies to owners who leave Switzerland or change the property's use after the new rules take effect, not to purchases made under the current framework. Still, if your plans include an eventual move back to the US, or if you're considering how property fits into a broader ownership or trust structure, it's worth understanding how ownership rules and recent legal developments interact — our piece on Swiss Real Estate and Trusts: What the 2026 Supreme Court Ruling Means for Americans walks through some of that terrain.
Why This Is Happening Now
The timing isn't random. Switzerland is dealing with a genuine housing shortage, rising real estate prices, and political pressure to limit foreign ownership — pressure that's intensified alongside a separate public initiative aiming to cap Switzerland's population at 10 million, which goes to a vote in June 2026. Lex Koller has existed in some form since the 1980s specifically to limit foreign acquisition of Swiss real estate; this proposal is best understood as a significant expansion of that existing logic, not a brand-new policy direction.
What to Do While This Is Still in Consultation
If you're actively weighing a home purchase in the next year or two, the practical questions worth working through now are financing readiness (down payment, currency exposure, affordability test) and how a purchase fits your broader plans if your Swiss residency status might change. This depends heavily on your specific permit status, income structure, and timeline — worth talking through with someone who understands both the Swiss property rules and the US tax side before you sign anything.