Financing Property in Germany, Austria, Switzerland & Luxembourg
An independent perspective for internationally mobile buyers, entrepreneurs, investors and family offices acquiring property across the German-speaking markets and Luxembourg — and for the lawyers, tax advisors and wealth managers who work alongside them.
These four markets look like one region and lend like four. A Munich apartment, a Salzburg lake house, a Zug property and a Luxembourg townhouse each sit under different rules, and an internationally mobile buyer meets a different obstacle in each. The questions below are the ones that most often decide whether the route chosen at the start still works at signing.
I live outside the region but want to buy here. Where does that leave me?
In four markets that behave quite differently, despite being neighbours. German lenders are precise and document-driven and will finance a non-resident readily once the file is complete. Austria adds regional restrictions on foreign purchasers that vary by state. Switzerland limits residential purchases by non-residents outright in most cases, which makes the eligibility question a legal one before it is a financing one. Luxembourg is small, competitive and unusually comfortable with international profiles. The first useful step is not comparing rates but establishing, market by market, whether the purchase you have in mind is open to you at all.
My income is abroad and in another currency. Does that complicate matters?
It changes who will look at the file rather than whether it is financeable. German and Austrian retail lenders are built around domestic, euro, salaried income and treat foreign-currency earnings conservatively — the European foreign-currency rules made some of them more cautious still. Swiss and Luxembourg houses are more accustomed to it, and international private banks are entirely at home with it. Where income sits in dollars, sterling or francs against a euro purchase, the question worth answering deliberately is which side carries the currency risk in the finished structure, rather than discovering it later in a repricing.
Should I use my own private bank or a local lender?
Both work, for different profiles. A local lender knows the property, the notary and the regional market, but has to learn you from scratch and rarely has a template for an international life. The bank you already work with knows you, moves faster, and can often lend against assets rather than only against the property — though it may have limited appetite for real estate in a market it does not cover. Having had those credit conversations from inside the bank, I would usually run one of each quietly in parallel and let the terms decide.
Can my portfolio carry the purchase instead of selling assets?
Frequently, and in this region it is often the more elegant answer. A portfolio held with a Luxembourg or Swiss private bank can be pledged, or the same house can lend against the property while your mandate stays intact — which avoids selling into a weak quarter or realising a gain you had not planned. Composition and currency set the terms: a diversified mandate reads differently from a concentrated founder holding or a book of fund commitments. I would look at the portfolio and the property together before deciding which one carries the financing.
I hold my wealth through a holding company or foundation. Does that restrict me?
It shapes who will underwrite rather than whether you can buy. German and Austrian lenders are comfortable with a domestic corporate borrower and considerably less so with a foreign holding above it; a Liechtenstein foundation or a discretionary trust narrows the field again. Luxembourg is the most relaxed of the four, unsurprisingly. The ownership question belongs with your tax advisor and notary — but the financing consequences need to be in the room before the structure is signed, not discovered afterwards when the preferred lender declines it.
Does Switzerland's restriction on foreign buyers rule me out?
Not necessarily, but it decides the shape of everything that follows. Swiss rules on residential purchases by people without a Swiss domicile are genuinely restrictive, with exceptions that depend on permit status, canton and the type of property — and holiday-home quotas that differ from one canton to the next. That is a question for a Swiss lawyer, not a bank. What I can do is make sure the financing route is developed alongside the eligibility question rather than after it, because the two are more connected in Switzerland than anywhere else in Europe.
I am relocating for work — should the financing come before or after the move?
Usually before, and the reason is practical. Before the move you are a foreign-resident buyer with foreign income, which suits one group of lenders. Afterwards you are locally resident but without a local tax return, a local credit history or, sometimes, a permanent contract — which suits a different group and troubles a few. Executives arriving in Zurich, Munich or Luxembourg often find the window in which both routes are open is narrower than expected. It is worth using deliberately rather than discovering it has closed.
How do you decide which lenders actually see my file?
By preparing it properly and being selective. An international file sent to every bank in the region collects polite declines, a visible trail and lost time. I prepare a concise, accurate presentation of the buyer, the property and the intended route, then place it with two or three houses that can genuinely carry the profile — in parallel, so you compare real terms rather than negotiate against yourself. A significant part of the work lies in deciding what is not sent and which institutions should never see the file at all.
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