Located in the heart of the Swiss Alps, Verbier VS won the “World’s Best Ski Resort” award for the second time in a row. The real estate excesses that make headlines again and again are less glamorous than Alpendorf’s best ski area reveals.
The following story actually makes you spit. The newspaper “Le Matin Dimanche” quoted a cautious real estate agent, “An Italian residing in Verbier sold his second home registered flat for more than 32,000 francs per square meter and repurchased an apartment as his main residence for 16,000 francs per square metre.” from Romandy. This transaction poured four million francs into his bank account without him having to do much. According to the broker, this is a property with an area of 120 to 180 square meters.
Hard to believe, isn’t it? “Yes, there is, a perverse influence of Lex Weber,” says real estate expert Daniel Guinnard of the newspaper Verbier.
Federal law restricts second home construction
Federal law on second homes prohibits the construction of new second homes in municipalities with a second home share of more than 20 percent. But it also provides exceptions. And: Under this law, homes built before 2012 can be sold as secondary residences even if the owner uses them as primary residences.
In fact, in luxury resorts like Verbier in Valais, the value of chalets and apartments used only part of the year has exploded over the past decade, while the value of prime residences has remained stable. This is also due to the scarcity of second homes, which has greatly fueled price increases.
Two new construction projects in Verbier
This price difference between these two types of real estate supports such transactions today. According to «Le Matin Dimanche», two major projects for main residences have recently been launched in Verbier. These are the first examples of this kind since Lex Weber passed. Other projects were limited to a few individual chalets. It was against this background that the Verbier resident Italian managed to get the handsome capital appreciation.
According to the newspaper’s report, some flat owners are now considering selling their “detached” homes for the highest price in order to have a much cheaper property as their original residence. (euro)