The State Of The Market

THE WINTER 2021 property market

REPORT

by gareth jefferies

By gareth jefferies marketing director at alpine-property.com Marketing Director at alpine-property.com

Despite the difficult winter of 2020/21 when our lifts never opened, plenty of people still came to the region on holiday. They came to enjoy the outdoors and everything the mountains have to offer.

Some people I know with apartments to rent only lost 10 or 20% of their revenue compared to a normal year. The main bit of feedback was that visitors missed the cafes and restaurants, especially when the weather made staying outside hard to do! COVID-19 did cause some real issues for the local economy, for workers, hotels and restaurants, most of which were (more or less) supported by the government. The benefit to our area was that the situation opened our eyes to the potential of our mountains when the lifts aren’t open or if snow conditions make skiing a trial.

This past summer was more like the summer of 2020. It was a little less manic on the tourism front, but no less busy as far as interest in buying property goes. The rush from the cities and the search for space continued. Overall, here at Alpine Property, 2020 was our busiest year in the 20 years we have been operating. 2021 is already busier. We are used to a 50/50 split in our customers, between the Francophone and Anglophone. That has changed slightly to 50/50 Francophone/ other. When I say “other”, I mean Swiss, Belgium, Dutch and then generally Franco+British expatriates from all over Europe and the rest of the world.

The summer really was a frenzy at times. There were a few weeks in August when new properties coming onto our books were being sold within a week. The last time we dealt with a rush like that was 2006, when sterling was particularly strong against the euro. This has caused inflation busting price rises that have particularly affected the outlying areas. Places like St Jean d’Aulps, Le Biot and Seytroux are now considered mainstream, whereas in 2006 they were the poor neighbours!

Thanks to extra restrictions on travel between the UK and France, the British have figured less in our business, although we have done some business virtually and we have dealt with lots of interest. But, quite rightly, most people have wanted to visit potential properties in person before making any big decisions. UK visitors only started arriving in the numbers we are used to towards the end of the summer and during the autumn holidays.

I’m writing this property update in November and as far as we can see, there is a lot of pressure for a completely normal winter season. Most in the accommodation sector have excellent bookings in place. It seems as if our regular visitors are really determined to make up for lost time.

“as far as interest in buying property goes. The rush from the cities and the search for space continued.”

Something that will help buyers from “the Sterling zone” will be the relative strength of the pound. This will only increase if the Bank of England decides to put interest rates up. Historically, demand always increases as the buying power of the pound increases. That’s 100% logical. A slight brake on future interest in ski properties from the UK will be the difficulty of obtaining a mortgage. It’s not impossible, but it has become harder since Brexit. Our advice is to speak to a broker in the UK before you start your search.

As time goes on people are getting their heads around the visa system for moving out here and for work. This year is the first year that it has been in place and it is a learning process, both for us and the authorities. Believe it or not, questions to the British consulate on these matters are often responded to with a reference to one Facebook group or another. It’s not ideal!

Thanks to Brexit and COVID, many people have spoken of the “death of the chalet holiday”. The chalet holiday providers have been at the forefront of promoting this area, and their loss would be a blow to the economy and to our general marketing power. However it is too early to buy the flowers; they are adapting like everyone else. They are learning how to obtain work visas for their British staff and they are becoming adept at employing Irish and other English speaking workers from around Europe. Long may it continue.

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