Property in Switzerland: Lex Koller and cantonal quotas

Switzerland is the only market on this list where a foreigner's purchase of housing is limited not by tax and not by price but by a direct federal prohibition with exceptions. The law, known after a former justice minister as Lex Koller, has been in force since the 1980s and has been surviving attempts at repeal for just as long.

Who needs no permission

• Swiss citizens, obviously.
• Citizens of EU and EFTA states resident in Switzerland with a valid residence permit: they are treated as locals and buy freely.
• Holders of a permanent category C residence permit, regardless of nationality.

Everyone else — a buyer from a third country not living in Switzerland — falls entirely under the permission regime.

How the permission regime works

• The canton grants permission, and not every canton: buying resort housing is possible only in cantons and communes officially designated as tourist areas. In business centres such as Zurich and Geneva a non-resident will not be sold resort housing.
• The annual national quota is limited and distributed between cantons. Exhausting it means waiting for the next year.
• An area limit. The law restricts both the living area of the property and the size of the plot — buying a castle on a hectare does not fit this regime.
• One property per household. Acquiring a second by registering it to a spouse or a minor child does not work: the family is counted as one.
• A restriction on resale. Cantons usually set a minimum holding period during which the property cannot be resold without good reason.
• A prohibition on year-round letting. The property is acquired for your own recreation; seasonal letting while you are away is permitted, turning it into an income property is not.

Commercial property is a different regime

The law's restrictions concern housing. Commercial properties — offices, industrial and retail space — are available to a foreigner without permission, because the purpose of the restriction is the residential market rather than investment in the economy.

Why this matters as a comparison

Set against Switzerland, the Dubai regime looks like what it is: a jurisdiction that deliberately competes for foreign capital rather than defending itself from it. Freehold zones, no quota, no permission, no holding period and no ban on letting. Whether that is an advantage depends on what you want from the market — but the difference is worth stating plainly rather than assuming every developed market works one way.