New research shows: Holiday apartments in the Alps are getting more and more expensive: Square meter prices are at their highest here

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More expensive, more expensive – a chalet in the Swiss mountains. According to the UBS Alpine Property Index, the prices of holiday homes in the Alps have risen sharply again in the top destinations by 7 percent in one year.

Not surprisingly, Switzerland is by far the most expensive place in the entire Alpine region. With the luxury ski resort of Austria, Kitzbühel, only one destination other than Switzerland entered the top ten.

Engadin/St. Moritz GR is by far the most expensive tourist destination in the Alps. A second house in the upper segment costs around 20,500 francs per square metre. In second and third place are Flims/Laax GR and Gstaad BE, with a price level of approximately CHF 17,000 per square meter.

Arosa is in high demand

Interesting: Prices in Flims/Laax have increased by more than 15 percent, while Gstaad has lost some of its appeal – at a very high level. Prices at the Reichenresort in the Bernese Oberland have dropped quite a bit over the past year.

On the other hand, holiday apartments in Arosa GR were in particularly high demand and were almost a fifth more expensive. The square meter price of 13,400 francs is sufficient for the 14th row.

Will concrete continue to shine gold in the Alps? No fear of a big price drop. However, the time for unlimited growth is over for now. “In the next few quarters, price increases in the vacation home market are likely to slow further and a recession is looming,” says UBS property economist and study author Maciej Skoczek, 36.

Rising interest rates reduce the willingness to buy

During the corona epidemic, city dwellers discovered their home office in the mountains. But with the end of the pandemic, more and more companies are whistling to bring their employees back to the office. In addition, distant countries are attracting again, Swiss people are queuing at airports to fly abroad for vacation. The Corona explosion in the mountains was not sustainable.

In addition, rising interest rates have made vacation homes even more expensive to buy and more expensive to maintain. Some owners, who view their chalet more as an investment than a vacation home, may want to turn the price hikes of recent years into capital gains. That’s why they’re selling their Alpine homes.

However, vacancy rates in mountainous regions remain low. The downside of the second housing boom in the Alps: there is a growing shortage of primary housing for locals. This is a situation that can accelerate migration from these regions.

Source : Blick