Client: APS Select Yellow News Source: The Times Date: 07/12/2018 Page: 12 Reach: 450064 Value: 29504.64

Snowball effect: Brits return to the Alps Last year’s heavy snow has reignited buyers’ interest in ski resorts, says Ben Clatworthy now is falling on the led to a surge in inquiries about being hit by the double whammy of the mountains of and properties for sale in the past 12 months, financial crash in 2008, and the election the US, and resorts are according to estate agents. in 2012 of François Hollande, who raised firing up their lifts as the ski Prime property prices remain strong taxes for high earners. season gets under way. The in Alpine resorts, with notable growth In Les Gets, a pretty resort linked arrival of winter has been in , according to Knight Frank’s to the Portes du Soleil ski area and Skeenly anticipated after last annual ski index, which monitors the close to Geneva, the Residence Stella year’s record-breaking prices of a four-bedroom chalet in development is close to the lifts and snowfalls, which broke a run of three 16 French and Swiss resorts. Val d’Isère comprises 63 one to five-bedroom flats, disastrous seasons that put the brakes on tops the French chart with 3 per cent starting at €479,000 (£427,000) through buyer interest and damaged consumer price growth in the past year, followed Erna Low Property, although they are sentiment. Fears also linger over a messy by Chamonix (2.3 per cent) and not due to complete until 2020. Brexit and the weakness of the pound Courchevel 1550 and 1650 (both is a tale of two halves. The against the euro (a €2 million chalet 2.2 per cent). picturesque village of Villars-sur-Ollon would cost £188,000 more than a The country’s residential market has tops the chart, with 6 per cent price decade ago) and Swiss franc, which also begun to flourish in the past year. growth; Verbier is second at 3.4 per cent. remain strong. One of Emmanuel Macron’s first moves However, overall, prices are falling — Yet there are signs of recovery — after being elected president last year or at best stagnant — in many of prices in the mountains of Europe fell Switzerland’s top resorts. Experts blame 0.5 per cent in the past year, a modest was to slash the country’s wealth tax, the strength of the franc as well as improvement on the 1.8 per cent of the and “l’effet Macron” caused a ripple weaker long-term rental demand. In previous year, according to research by of optimism among the wealthy. St Moritz prices are down 11.1 per cent Knight Frank. Last year’s snowfall has The French property market has because of a mismatch between supply been waiting for such a recovery after

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and demand, according to the ski index. charts at €16,671 a square metre. Stock Prices in Klosters fell 10.7 per cent, and in the resort is limited because of the in neighbouring Davos 9 per cent. In number of hotels. Andermatt, which is being redeveloped, At the other end of the spectrum, prime prices are stagnant. buyers should consider Nendaz in The market in remains robust, Switzerland (€7,543 a square metre), but is being driven by non-UK buyers, a satellite resort linked to Verbier; says Giles Gale of Mark Warner Bad Gastein in Austria (€5,529); or Property. “Recent regulatory changes in Morzine, part of the Portes du Soleil Salzburgerland have helped to support in France (€7,597). the market by severely limiting supply,” Gale says. “From the start of the year no Buyers have a head for heights new-build apartments or chalets have The three lean snow years in the Alps has had a marked impact on the resorts consent for rental permission, bringing that buyers are eyeing. Those with the region into line with the Tyrol, and access to high-altitude pistes have covering over 95 per cent of the ski areas renewed appeal, even if some, especially where foreigners buy. This means buyers in France, are not the most attractive. must buy into managed ‘apart-hotel’ “Five years ago, I didn’t think we residences where they are under an really needed to be addressing climate obligation to let out when they are not change,” says Jeremy Rollason, the head using the property. “Buyers who are looking for a resale of ski at Savills. “Now I know that was property must find one that was used as wrong and last year we launched our a holiday let prior to January 1, 2018, if ski resilience index, which looks at they wish to use it as a holiday let rather altitude, snowfall and season lengths. than a main residence.” Gale tips Zell am We hadn’t thought climate could have See as a hotspot, with its full link to such a dramatic effect on the viability of ski resorts, but clearly it does.” Saalbach due to be completed by next Zermatt, which sits in the shadow of winter. A two-bedroom apartment in the the Matterhorn, retains the top spot for resort is on sale for €495,000 through a second year, followed by Saas-Fee, Mark Warner Property. whose glacier opens from the autumn and is a popular training ground for What it means for the prime market international ski teams. Cervinia in , Aspen in Colorado retains the top spot which is linked to Zermatt, is third. in Savills’s global prime-property price Snowsure Avoriaz tops the French chart table at $24,442 (£19,200) a square (17th overall), while across the Pond, Vail metre. In snowsure Val d’Isère, which and Aspen are fourth and fifth. was able to open some slopes in June “The surprise this year is Andermatt,” because of last winter’s record-breaking says Rollason. “It was 45th last year, but snowfalls, a square metre sells for an has jumped to tenth this season. That’s average €20,663. Last year plans were wholly down to the snowfall.” After years announced for a £170 million in the pipeline, the Swiss resort has regeneration project, described as the finally linked to neighbouring Sedrun “most ambitious building project with a new ten-person gondola between undertaken anywhere in the Alps Oberalppass and Schneehüenerstock. It in a generation”. It will give the village marks the near-completion of a a much-needed facelift. masterplan launched in 2009 In Courchevel 1850, one of the Alps’s when Samih Sawiris, an Egyptian- glitziest resorts, a square metre costs Montenegrin businessman, bought the €19,335 in the prime sector, compared resort. Since then seven new lifts have with nearby purpose-built La Plagne, been built, and there’s a host of new runs which is fourth cheapest at €5,212 a and increased snowmaking too. square metre. St Moritz tops the leader board of Swiss resorts (€18,336 a square metre), followed by Verbier (€18,261). In Austria, Lech, which is lift-linked to St Anton and sits in a snowy bowl, tops the

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The Platinum Residences in Lech, Austria, start at €818,000

This Swiss chalet in Les Masses has four bedrooms and is on sale for SwFr1.299 million

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The six-bedroom Tanda Tula chalet in Megève, France, has panoramic mountain views and access to more than 100kmm of pistes. It is on the market for €6.75 million through Savills

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