Investing in Chamonix
Foreign property Investors Hunting Property in The French Alps
An increasing amount of tourists and foreign property investors are hunting houses in the French Alps which are known as being the mainland of the inaugural Winter Olympic Games in 1924. Lodged in the Savoie area, Chamonix cannot help but attract a wide range of nationalities – including Russians – due to some factors such as low mortgage rates available in France, weaker euro and the safety of an international market investment.
French Alps tourists and foreign investors
Attractive mortgage rates: Investments in the French Alps
Asians such as Chinese, Koreans and Indians are more and more visible in Savoie region both in summer and winter according to Emanuela Gillberg, Chamonix Tourist Officer. Northern Europeans and British people are also among the best French Alps’ investors. Trevor Leggett, the chairman of French property agency Leggett Immobilier and specialist of a French Alps branch, highlights that he knows that “15 per cent of all property sales to overseas buyers in France are in the Alps and this accounted for around 1,500 transactions last year. The average spend of an international buyer in the Alps is around €390,000 and, of course, this rises substantially in prime areas.”
In addition, 15% of the one to four-bedroom apartments from €299,666 to €750,000 have already been sold and there is an increasing demand for accommodation. As the Independent newspaper declared on the 15th of February 2014, the Chamonix lift management company, Compagnie du Mont Blanc and the Chamonix council certified a 40 year investment programme of €477 million which will improve ski lifts and facilities in the Chamonix region. Thus, this area will keep on developing and improving through years. It makes financial sense for some UK and other foreign currency buyers to purchase with a French euro-mortgage as mortgage rates in France are at historical lows. Borrowers can access rates which are far more stable than those available in the UK.
Richard Way, Independent’s journalist, acknowledges that “if prices continue to rise in Chamonix, rates stay low and sterling maintains an upward trend against the euro, investors like the Masters can look forward to substantial returns from a French ski property.”
