Buying a Vacation Home or Ski Chalet in Switzerland as a Foreigner: Lex Weber, Quotas, and What's Actually Available

You have been skiing in Verbier or Zermatt for years and you want to stop renting chalets week by week. Owning a place in the Alps sounds straightforward. It is not. Switzerland operates one of the most restrictive vacation property access systems in the developed world, and foreign buyers face a hard ceiling of 1,500 purchase permits per year across the entire country. Combined with a construction ban that has frozen new-build supply in virtually every established Alpine resort, the market for legally accessible foreign-bought vacation properties is extremely tight.

Here is what the system actually allows and what it does not.

The Two Laws That Control Everything

Swiss vacation property ownership by foreigners is shaped by two distinct pieces of federal legislation that work in tandem to compress supply and restrict access.

Lex Koller (the Federal Act on the Acquisition of Real Estate by Persons Abroad) establishes who may buy and requires a cantonal authorization permit for non-residents and non-domiciled buyers seeking vacation properties. It sets the national quota of 1,500 permits per year and designates which cantons can issue them.

Lex Weber (the Second Homes Initiative, accepted by Swiss voters in 2012 and enacted through the Second Homes Act of 2016) prohibits the construction of new second homes in any municipality where the existing second-home share of housing stock already exceeds 20%. Because virtually every established ski resort in Valais and Graubünden crossed the 20% threshold years ago, no new holiday chalets can be built in these locations. The construction moratorium is permanent — not subject to exceptions for foreign buyers, developers, or premium developments.

These two laws create a closed-loop market: foreigners need Lex Koller permits to buy, and Lex Weber ensures almost no new supply is being created. You are competing with other foreign buyers for a fixed pool of existing resale properties.

Who Qualifies to Buy Under the Holiday Home Quota

The 1,500 national permits per year are not available to all foreign buyers — only to a narrowly defined group.

Non-residents (individuals who do not live in Switzerland and hold no Swiss residence permit) are the primary intended beneficiaries of the vacation property quota. They may apply for a cantonal Lex Koller permit to purchase a vacation home in a designated tourist zone.

Holders of Swiss L permits (short-term residence, typically one year) who are classified as "persons abroad" under Lex Koller may also access the quota in some cantons.

Third-country nationals holding a B permit (non-EU/EFTA, temporary residence) are technically classified as "persons abroad" and would normally require a Lex Koller permit. However, they can bypass the quota system for a primary residence if they live in the relevant commune. For a vacation property in a different canton from where they live, they would require a permit from that second canton's quota.

C permit holders and EU/EFTA B permit holders have unrestricted rights and do not need quota permits for any property purchase, including vacation homes.

Which Cantons Have Vacation Home Quotas

Nine cantons — Zurich, Zug, Basel-Stadt, Geneva, Schaffhausen, Appenzell Innerrhoden, Nidwalden, Glarus, and Solothurn — have a zero quota. Non-residents cannot purchase vacation properties in these cantons under any circumstances.

The cantons with active quotas are concentrated in Alpine tourism regions:

Valais: The largest allocation, approximately 330 permits per year. This covers resorts including Verbier, Zermatt, Saas-Fee, Crans-Montana, and Nendaz. Valais is where the majority of foreign vacation property demand concentrates.

Graubünden: Approximately 290 permits per year. Covers St. Moritz, Davos, Klosters, Flims-Laax, and Arosa among others.

Bern: Approximately 55 permits per year. Covers the Bernese Oberland resorts of Grindelwald, Wengen, Mürren, and Adelboden.

Vaud: Approximately 90 permits per year. Primarily covers the Alpes vaudoises and some pre-Alpine areas.

Ticino: Approximately 90 permits per year. Covers lakeside and southern Alpine resort areas.

Uri, Obwalden, Schwyz, Jura, Fribourg, Neuchâtel: Smaller allocations of 20 to 60 permits each.

Permits within a canton are allocated on a first-come, first-served basis each calendar year. Once a canton's annual quota is exhausted, no further permits are issued until the following year. In peak demand cantons like Valais and Graubünden, permits are sometimes exhausted before year-end.

Physical Restrictions on the Property

Even if you obtain a permit, Lex Koller imposes strict size limits on vacation properties purchased by persons abroad:

• Net living area cannot exceed 200 square meters
• Total plot size cannot exceed 1,000 square meters
• One vacation home per family unit (husband, wife, and minor children combined)

These limits prevent the creation of sprawling foreign-owned estates and concentrate the available market in the mid-size chalet and apartment segment. A 150-square-meter chalet on a 600-square-meter plot is the typical profile of what foreign buyers can legally target.

Occasional rental of the vacation home — such as listing it through a ski resort rental agency for weeks when you are not using it — is generally permitted under Lex Koller. What is prohibited is permanent or systematic rental: using the property as an investment asset rather than a personal vacation home. The line between permitted occasional rental and prohibited investment use is sometimes contested, and you should obtain a clear written opinion from your notary on the specific property's permitted use before purchasing.

Why Lex Weber Makes Existing Properties So Expensive

The Lex Weber construction ban has been in force since 2013 (with the formal Second Homes Act operative since 2016). A decade-plus of no new-build supply in established resorts like Verbier, Zermatt, and St. Moritz has created extreme price pressure.

Zermatt and Verbier regularly see resale chalet prices exceeding CHF 20,000 to CHF 30,000 per square meter for premium properties with Matterhorn or valley views. A 150-square-meter chalet at CHF 20,000 per square meter is a CHF 3 million purchase — requiring CHF 600,000 in hard equity plus CHF 120,000 to CHF 150,000 in estimated closing costs in Valais (transfer tax 1.0%–1.5%, notary fees 0.5%–0.6%, land registry and Schuldbrief fees).

More accessible market entry points exist in smaller Valais communes that are designated tourist zones but lack the mega-resort profiles — villages in the Anniviers Valley or Saas-Grund, for example. Prices in these areas can run CHF 6,000 to CHF 10,000 per square meter, making a 120-square-meter apartment achievable at CHF 720,000 to CHF 1.2 million.

In Graubünden, the less-exposed flanks of Davos and secondary Engadine valley communes offer similar relative accessibility compared to St. Moritz's premium postcode.

The Purchase Process Under the Quota System

The transaction sequence for a vacation home under the quota system includes one critical additional step compared to a standard Swiss property purchase: the cantonal Lex Koller authorization application.

Once you find a property and agree terms with the seller, the notary prepares and submits the authorization application to the relevant cantonal authority. The notary will require proof of your identity, documentation of your non-resident or permit status, a description of the property and its intended use as a personal vacation home, and confirmation that the property falls within the permitted size limits.

Authorization typically takes four to eight weeks. The preliminary purchase agreement (Vorvertrag) must be signed before the application is submitted — the cantonal authority needs to see the specific property details. Critically, the Vorvertrag must contain a contingency clause explicitly providing that the sale is void and your deposit is returned in full if the Lex Koller authorization is denied.

Do not sign a reservation agreement or pay a deposit without this clause. A denial — which can happen if the canton's quota is already exhausted for the year — would otherwise leave you exposed to financial penalties for non-completion.

Tax Obligations for Foreign Vacation Home Owners

Non-residents who own a vacation home in Switzerland are subject to Swiss taxation even without Swiss domicile. The property creates an economic nexus, requiring the owner to file a limited Swiss tax return in the relevant canton each year.

Until 2029, this means declaring the Eigenmietwert (imputed rental value) of the property as taxable income on the Swiss return and paying cantonal wealth tax on the net value of the property after deducting the mortgage. Mortgage interest and qualifying maintenance expenses are deductible.

From January 1, 2029, the Eigenmietwert system is abolished for primary and secondary residences. For vacation home owners, this removes the imputed income tax but also eliminates the mortgage interest deduction. Additionally, the 2025 abolition vote included a constitutional provision allowing Alpine cantons to introduce compensatory property taxes specifically targeting second homes. Valais, Graubünden, and Bern are among the cantons that have indicated intent to use this authority — the specific rates had not been fully legislated in all cases as of mid-2026 but the direction is established.

For a complete guide to the Lex Koller permit application process, the canton-by-canton quota breakdown, the size limit rules, ongoing tax obligations for non-resident owners, and what the 2029 tax reform means for vacation property holding costs, the Buying Property in Switzerland — Expat Guide covers all of this in detail.

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