Andermatt: The One Exception to Switzerland’s Lex Koller, and How It Works

Switzerland is the most closed market on our list: a foreigner's purchase of housing is restricted by federal law — known as Lex Koller — and permits are issued by the cantons against an annual quota. There is exactly one notable exception worth knowing about: the resort of Andermatt, in the canton of Uri.

What the exception is

Andermatt was an old military garrison town in the central Alps that, by the early 2000s, was losing both population and economy. The state took an unusual step: a special regime was granted to a master-planned resort development there, lifting the usual restrictions on foreign buyers for housing inside the project. The logic was straightforward — a resort of this scale couldn't get built in a depressed valley without foreign capital.

• Housing inside the project sells to non-residents without a cantonal quota and without the usual permit.
• The exception applies to the project, not the region — the neighbouring village operates under the standard rules.
• It only covers the purchase itself. Everything else — use, letting, upkeep — is set by the project's own terms and by Swiss law generally.

What's behind it

The resort was built as a single master plan: hotels, apartments, a golf course, cable cars, a ski area merged with the neighbouring valley. Rail links and tunnels keep the valley reachable year-round, not just in season. For a buyer, that means the property isn't bought "in the mountains" — it's bought inside a managed environment with shared infrastructure and shared rules.

What it changes for a foreign buyer

• Access. This is effectively the only way to buy Swiss housing without going through a cantonal quota and permit.
• Liquidity within a narrow circle. There aren't many buyers for Alpine property, and you'll be selling to another foreigner or a Swiss national.
• Letting. The general Swiss principle is that a non-resident buys housing for personal use, not as an income property; the specific letting terms inside the project are governed by its rules and by the management company's contract.
• Costs. Upkeep in a gated resort master plan is high and runs year-round.

How to think about it

Andermatt isn't a loophole — it's an exception the state created deliberately, for a specific development goal. It suits someone who wants a Swiss address and Alpine housing for the family, and is prepared to treat it as a place rather than an income tool. Switzerland doesn't suit a rental model at all — not here, and not anywhere else in the country.

Based on the Swiss federal act on the acquisition of real estate by persons abroad and on the terms of Andermatt's special development regime.