Lex Koller poses a threat to agios in property funds

Bern is targeting a sensitive area of the Swiss property market. The Federal Council wants to ban people living abroad from purchasing fund units and listed residential property shares. This could put pressure on premiums, increase fees and impose new compliance costs on these investment vehicles.

The proposal is no longer a rumour; it has been out for consultation since 15 April 2026. The Federal Council wishes to tighten the Lex Koller and, in principle, prohibit persons abroad from acquiring regularly traded units in property funds, property SICAVs and listed residential property companies. The deadline for submitting comments was 15 July 2026.

This is a sensitive issue for the capital market, as the proposal directly affects the tradability of these securities. At present, foreign investors can invest in Swiss property vehicles via the stock exchange without falling under the existing restrictions of the Lex Koller. It is precisely this openness that is set to be removed. This would create an additional administrative filter, which fund managers and companies would have to safeguard through control and compliance processes.

:short-term pressure on prices possibleResidential property vehicles would be hardest hit, as the planned restriction explicitly targets residential property companies as well as regularly traded property funds and SICAVs. Whilst there is no evidence of an abrupt withdrawal of foreign buyers, However, even the loss of a single investor group can dampen demand on the stock market. UBS estimates the proportion of foreign investors in Swiss property funds to be in the low to mid single-digit percentage range. This suggests limited, but short-term, price pressure rather than a fundamental market collapse.

Fees could rise as well
For Swiss investors, the greater risk therefore does not necessarily lie in a prolonged crisis in share prices, but in higher transaction costs. If funds and property SICAVs have to exercise greater control over their investor base, the effort and complexity involved in distribution and ongoing monitoring will increase. Experience shows that such additional costs do not simply vanish into thin air, but are passed on to the products and thus to the remaining investors.

Politically, nothing has been decided yet
It remains to be seen whether the tightening of regulations in this form will even reach Parliament. economiesuisse clearly rejected the draft during the consultation on 13 July 2026 and called on the Federal Council to refrain from submitting a message. The political path therefore remains uncertain. Even if the Federal Council were to stand by the proposal, debates in the National Council and Council of States – followed by a referendum – would remain a possibility. For listed property vehicles, this uncertainty is therefore already a factor in the market today.