Andermatt becomes a rich backup: This is how billionaire investor Sawiris attracts wealthy Norwegians

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With the arrival of Alf-Inge Haaland (50), former professional football player and father of Manchester City star Erling Haaland (22), Andermatt UR has become the focus of international media attention. According to the Norwegian census, Haaland moved into the “Arve” house on May 8, 2023. Client: Andermatt Swiss Alps AG, owned by billionaire Samih Sawiris (62), who sometimes sells luxury apartments himself.

Council of States Uri FDP member Josef Dittli (66) also has a vacation flat in the same house. She welcomes the obvious move to Andermatt: “I’m glad that Mr. Haaland is another good taxpayer who apparently discovered how beautiful Andermatt has been all year.”

active regulation of the Scandinavians

It’s no accident that Haaland moved to Andermatt. In 2021 various Norwegians including the very wealthy Norwegian industrialist Kjartan Aas (62) bought an apartment in Andermatt Swiss Alps. Stefan Kern, spokesperson for Andermatt Swiss Alps, explains to Blick: “To date, more than half a dozen flats have been sold to Norwegian citizens in Andermatt since 2020 at an average price of more than two million francs.” Interest in Andermatt in the Nordic region is also growing steadily, according to Kern.

A year and a half ago, Andermatt Swiss Alps defined the Scandinavian countries as “strategic purchasing markets”. “First of all, it wasn’t about tax optimization, but the fact that Scandinavians had a great affinity for outdoor activities and, on average, a high level of wealth,” Kern says. The Norwegian newspaper “Finansavis” says Sawiris himself has trapped millionaires in the far north: “The mountain resorts in Norway are not particularly exciting. The mountains are not even high.” As a result, wealthy Norwegians are very interested in properties in the Alpine region.

But it’s “a lucky coincidence,” according to Kern, that their interest in Switzerland has increased significantly recently as a result of changing tax regulations in Norway.

A Swede with a professional background at luxury hotel The Chedi Andermatt markets the properties of Andermatt Swiss Alps locally in Scandinavia, specifically Norway and Sweden. Apparently with success. However, it must be put into perspective: two-thirds of the buyers reside in Switzerland. “The proportion of Scandinavian buyers is still in the low single digits,” Kern says. However, that is about to change.

Andermatt becomes a center of attraction

Andermatt has good cards to lure wealthy northerners. The canton of Uri is not very attractive from a tax point of view. However, as elsewhere, there is the possibility of concluding individual tax agreements with the authorities. “Andermatt is the only place in Switzerland where foreigners can buy property without restrictions,” says Kern. Andermatt will be exempt from Lex Koller by 2040.

Competing with other Swiss locations like Lucerne or Lugano, which also attract wealthy Norwegians, Andermatt is now upping the stakes. Sawiris transforms a village used as a military barracks since 2005 into a popular mountain location. Even more: in a rich remake.

“We started building six new apartments in 2023,” says Kern. In addition, preparatory work for a new lifestyle hotel continues. Planning for the construction of the Dieni resort in nearby Dieni/Sedrun is well advanced. And a new consumer temple will be built in the Andermatt-Reuss section of the village by the end of 2024. This includes twelve areas for retail and three for gastronomy.

“As soon as the shopping offer is fully developed, we will be the coolest ski resort in Switzerland,” Sawiris reported in the newspaper “Finansavisen”. He knows that only beautiful nature is not enough to make a place attractive. Sawiris continues: “Unfortunately for some guests, Prada and Louis Vuitton are more appealing than nature, mountain trails and mountain biking.”

A new sports mecca?

Given the expansion, Andermatt Swiss Alps diligently recruits more solvent buyers from all over the world. The following anecdote shows that the Norwegians played a special role in this: When Kjartan Aas moved to Andermatt in 2021, he initially bought a 140 square meter apartment for 2.5 million francs. Now, in August 2024, he is moving into a nearby 230-square-foot apartment, for which he paid 5.2 million. According to him, despite the great interest from all over the world, Andermatt Swiss Alps got the contract because, as he explained in “Finansavisen”, he was “an excellent ambassador for Andermatt”. A request from Blick left Aas unanswered.

The average price per square meter in Andermatt in 2022 was CHF 17,000. “It has continued to rise in the current year,” Kern adds. This is much more than, for example, in Oslo, one of the most expensive cities in the world. But the tax benefits and nature outweigh the wealthy Norwegians willing to emigrate.

But it’s not just Norwegians who come. “We’re playing in the Champions League now with the tourist resort,” Andermatt mayor Peter Baumann (49) tells Blick. That’s right: After all, Dutch national coach Louis van Gaal (71) bought a holiday home from Sawiris there.

Source :Blick