Luxury tradesmen: These rich can’t get rid of Swiss villas

class=”sc-29f61514-0 jbwksb”>

Almost a year has passed since Raiffeisen’s convicted former boss, Pierin Vincenz, 67, posted his luxury villa above Teufen AR for sale. Nothing has happened since then. The private sunny hillside concrete palace in Appenzell’s most tax-efficient municipality is still on the market. Vincenz could have used the money well.

Luxury real estate agent Ginesta still praises the property for 10 to 15 million francs on its website. Is the price too high or just because of the concrete look? CEO Claude Ginesta (50) is reluctant to comment on this when asked.

Vincenz isn’t the only banker to make headlines with his property and yet fail to find buyers. Russian financier Igor Akhmerov, 58, has spent over four years trying to find a new owner for his magnificent palace on Lake Zurich. So far without success. The villa, once announced by Sotheby’s International Realty, is now in Ginesta’s portfolio. Can the Zurich principal broker do what international competition has not been able to do so far? Or is the villa on the Gold Coast not for sale for 20-25 million francs?

Not only customers demand

Marketing a high priced real estate usually takes longer than marketing an average real estate. “The more private the property, the fewer potential buyers there are,” says Katharina Hofer, 36, an economist specializing in the luxury property market at UBS.

Few multi-millionaires looking for a luxury place to stay? Not really. Between 2011 and 2021, the number of people with assets of more than 10 million francs in Switzerland, and with it the number of potential buyers of luxury real estate, increased by about 8 percent per year. The problem: wealthy customers no longer open their wallets as generously as they used to.

“The luxury property market has become more demanding compared to previous years,” says Hofer. “A turbulent stock market year in 2022 has strained the wealth of the rich, causing demand to fall accordingly,” says the economist.

buyer urgently wanted

Another notable example shows how difficult it is to sell a luxury property in Switzerland: the family villa in Winterthur ZH is still empty two years after extensive renovation. The once dilapidated Villa Wolfensberg has been transformed into a luxury property since its foreclosure sale in 2020, including a wellness area in the basement. Big makeover hasn’t helped so far. Its new owner, real estate company Leemann + Bretscher, still resides in the luxury property. Reason: In this price range, it’s difficult if not impossible to find a buyer that appeals to the quiet suburb of Zurich.

Will the family of legendary recruiter Egon Zehnder († 91) be in a different situation? His superior property in Küsnacht ZH has recently gone up for sale. The property, above Lake Zurich, is over 3,600 square meters. The figure on the price tag: more than 20 million francs. Too much?

Post-boom silence

The luxury segment experienced an average annual price increase of 8.5 percent during the two years of the pandemic – three times the ten-year average. “Associated overvaluations are increasingly being critically questioned,” says economist Hofer. In other words, potential buyers are increasingly reluctant to pay the asking prices without bargaining.

This is now reflected in the prices. For example, luxury property prices in Switzerland increased by just under 4 percent on average last year, which is below the market as a whole. For 2023, UBS expects declines even in low single digits. Whether Zehnders’ noble estate will find buyers for more than 20 million francs remains to be seen in the coming months – or years.

Source :Blick