February 15, 2010
We’ve just designated a new area on our website for Avoriaz
http://www.alpine-property.com/index.php?page=search&loc=23&lang=en
This might not sound ground breaking but it is quite a departure for Alpine Property. We have always concentrated on Chalets and properties in the valley ski resorts. in 2006/7 when we had a tricky season of snow we wondered if we should look more closely at Avoriaz, the prices held up well as buyers naturally headed for the “snow sure” areas.
We ski through Avoriaz plenty, personally I live down below in St Jean d’Aulps and visit frequently in the Summer and Winter. I have always had a soft spot for the philosophy and the architecture. I have often had to defend it from it’s critics. Here are some reasons why to like it:
1. Car free, when it was built in the 1960′s this went against the flow, it really shows were the designers were coming from though.
2. Designed to blend in with the surrounding mountains, it does a good job too, I love pointing to the horizon from Morzine and asking the people I’m with to spot Avoriaz. It’s there but it is well camoflaged, no straight edges, and clad in cedar. Genius.
3. It’s at 1800m and is predominately North facing, very snow sure and with modern lifts and tons of snow-making (just in case).
4. Very little expansion from when it was finished in the early 70′s has meant that the property prices have held up well compared to other resorts with a more liberal building policy.
Piste Hors have a nice write up on the history of Avoriaz.
http://pistehors.com/backcountry/wiki/Haute-Savoie/Avoriaz-History
So no sooner have we added our first little apartment on the website it becomes our hottest property!
http://www.alpine-property.com/index.php?page=prop_1_cedrat&lang=en&hist=page_searchXloc_23Xlang_en
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Latest News, Our marketing, new property | Tagged: apartment, avoriaz, morzine, property | 
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Posted by Gareth
January 22, 2010
Here are some interesting statistics that were published in the Dauphine Liberé this week. They refer to the amount of money the Commune (translates as Council) owes divided by the number of people who pay taxes in the Commune.
I have selected some of the more popular Communes for comparison. I don’t suppose you should make a property purchase decision on the basis of these figures, they just give you an idea of who owes the most! I’ve no idea what happens should a Commune in France goes bust.
Les Gets looks to be on shaky ground, it is an “average” sized ski resort and owes a lot. I know that in the last few years they have built and underground car park, a reservoir to supply water to the town and they have upgraded their sewage system too.
On a similar subject the Dauphine Liberé ran a story on the amount of ski lift investment in the Haute Savoie over the last year. Full story via the link below.
http://www.ledauphine.com/avec-six-nouveaux-apparei-@/index.jspz?article=249867&chaine=23
More property related stats from the following link.
http://www.budget.gouv.fr/
| Commune |
Euros per Inhabitant |
| Les Gets |
25,279 |
| Chatel |
10,698 |
| Les Contamines-Montjoie |
7,127 |
| Morzine |
6,806 |
| Megeve |
6,657 |
| La Clusaz |
6,490 |
| Morillon |
5,942 |
| Chamonix |
5,186 |
| Le Grand-Bornand |
5,076 |
| Combloux |
5,063 |
| Samoens |
4,700 |
| Araches-la-Frasse |
4,619 |
| Manigod |
3,663 |
| Evian-les-Bains |
3,603 |
| St Jean de Sixt |
3,581 |
| Saint-Gervais-les-Bains |
2,426 |
| Montriond |
1,926 |
| Le Biot |
1,755 |
| Essert Romand |
1,742 |
| Les Houches |
1,731 |
| Sixt-Fer-a-Cheval |
1,690 |
| Passy |
1,506 |
| La Chapelle-d’Abondance |
1,478 |
| Annecy-le-Vieux |
1,445 |
| St Jean d’Aulps |
1,311 |
| Vallorcine |
1,051 |
| Taninges |
847 |
| Servoz |
780 |
| Annecy |
483 |
| La Baume |
3 |
| Average in France |
890 |
3 Comments | Uncategorized | Tagged: Annecy, chamonix, chatel, les gets, megeve, morzine, property, samoens, st jean d'aulps, Vallorcine, Les Houches, Combloux, Le Grand-Bornand, La Clusaz, Sixt-fer-a-Cheval, Taninges, Montriond, council, commune, Annecy-le-Vieux, Araches-la-Frasse, La Baume, Le Biot, La Chapelle-d'Abondance, Les Contamines-Montjoie, Essert Romand, Evian-les-Bains, Manigod, Morillon, Passy, Saint-Gervais-les-Bains, St Jean de Sixt, Servoz | Permalink
Posted by Gareth
August 4, 2009
Every two months we undertake a review of the property market (from our point of view) in the Haute Savoie. We cover quite a large area and this review helps us keep abreast of what is happening across the region. Our main conclusions this month were:
1. The majority of new clients are looking for a property priced between 200k and 400k.
2. The interest is spread evenly between the Portes du Soleil / Grand Massif / Chamonix+Megeve+Aravis.
3. The French are well and truly back in the market as far as buying is concerned.
We are currently experiencing the highest number of sales in our history. Our last peak was in 2005. The current enthusiasm goes against the feeling the UK media is pushing. The reasons for our current positive results may well be.
1. We have more properties than ever for sale.
2. It’s a buyers market and sellers are very willing to negotiate.
3. Selling prices (as opposed to advertised prices) have reduced significantly.
4. The French are buying again, they aren’t being bombarded by negative financial press and in fact the French economy is probably in a much better state than the British economy.
5. The Euro seems to have stabilised and is slowly weakening against the pound.
Long may this continue. The only people who aren’t happy currently are the people that have to sell their properties. Though if they are taking the proceeds back to the UK the strong euro means that they go home with more pounds than the would have done 1 yr ago OR if they are moving within France they are reassured by the fact their new property is also “cheaper”.
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Posted by Gareth
May 28, 2009
It is possible to reclaim the TVA (VAT) on a new build property. Many people have heard about this and ask us how to go about it. The short answer is “it’s complicated”. In this short article we’ll try and add a little more information than that!
To start with it would be better to think of a property purchased in this way as an “investment”, an investment that will provide a rental income and may provide capital growth. It would not work if the property was being bought as a “holiday home”.
As an example I will use Chalet La Lyre and Chalet La Couronne Boréale in Samoëns. These two “off plan” properties are close to the centre of Samoëns and would provide good accommodation and location for a rental business; they could be used as self-catering or catered accommodation.
So Chalet La Lyre and Chalet Eridan together are for sale for together for a discounted price of 1,250,000 Euros (individually they are priced at 870,000 Euros and 480,000 Euros). The TVA component of this is 205,000 Euros.
- The purchaser would rent it a TVA registered rental company (which could be run by anyone – including the purchaser).
- They rental company leases the property from the owner on an annual contract, they must propose minimum services – 3 of 4 of the following: linen/breakfast/concierge/cleaning.
- The owner reclaims 19.6% of the purchase price = 205,000 Euros, this TVA is repaid in a lump sum after 3 months of rental has been received by the management company.
- This rental agreement would have to carry on for 9 years otherwise you’ll have to pay back the pro rata proportion of the TVA. So if after 5 years the purchaser decides to sell, the French authorities would want 4/9 x 205,000 = 91,000 Euros returned to them
So the initial investment for the purchaser would be 1,045,000 Euros, the yearly rental would be an estimated (30,000+15,000) 45,000 Euros. Providing an annual return of 4.3%. In these circumstances the running costs for the property would be paid by the renter so the GROSS and NET annual return would be almost the same.
Some further notes.
- There are purchase costs to take into account. Notaires fees and stamp duty, these are discounted on new builds! They amount to 2.5% in total.
- If the purchaser waits until after 5 years to sell the properties he will avoid having to pay Capitol Gains Tax.
- Before signing anything the whole project would need to be discussed with a qualified French accountant. We can suggest SAREG in Les Gets.
Comments Off | Uncategorized | Tagged: alpine property, property, reclaim, samoens, tax, tva, vat | Permalink
Posted by Gareth
April 20, 2009
I took a few days off with the family last week to visit London. The run up to this seemed quite hectic. Now I am back at my desk and decided to take stock of the new additions that Jo and I have added to the website.
The following list is all the new properties that have gone on-line in the last 3 weeks.
Chalets (10)
Chalet Servoz, a 4 bedroom property in the Chamonix valley.
Apartment Centre Ville, a small apartment or business slap bang in the middle of Samoens.
Apartment Bertrand, a 4 bedroom apartment in St Jean d’Aulps.
Apartment Chamois d’Or, a 3 bedroom apartment in the centre of Morzine.
Moulin de Trebillon, a stables with land not far from Evian and Lac Leman.
Chalet la Griaz, 3 bedrooms in Les Houches in Chamonix valley.
Chalet Iris, 5 bedrooms, 100m from a ski lift in Chatel.
Chalet Laer, 7 bedrooms, on the ski bus route in Chatel.
Chalet Cravarin, 6 bedrooms and great views in the Samoens valley.
Chalet la Toile, 4 bedrooms and great views in St Gervais
Land (4)
Land les Bollus, walking distance from the ski lift at Vercland, Samoens.
Land at Flerier, in a quiet setting by a lake near Taninges, Samoens valley.
Land du Buissons, good views on the outskirts of Essert Romand nr Morzine.
Land at Passy, cheap! About 20 minutes from Chamonix.
Renovation (1)
Farm Grevat, a farm building and 1620 m² of land, Essert Romand near Morzine
Comments Off | Latest News | Tagged: chamonix, chatel, morzine, property, samoens, st jean d'aulps, news, property for sale, portes du soleil, St Gervais, new additions | Permalink
Posted by Gareth
March 30, 2009
This review has been posted by JC Skiera with Winkworth, our UK partners.
“After a poor second half of 2008, French ski resorts are witnessing an unexpected but welcome soft landing. In spite of negative economic data, recent price falls have spurred buying interest in previously unaffordable “niche” areas. This is particularly evident in prime locations within famous destinations such as Chamonix, Megève, Morzine and Samoëns. Central locations and quality properties – ideally both – are now supported by attractive rental returns and the sub 500,000 euros market is showing encouraging signs of life, with transactions in January and February exceeding expectations. New properties have been the worst affected by the downturn and are now looking far more appealing as developers are offering large price drops and incentives in order to sell their inventory. France has not suffered from a credit crunch and interest rates are still falling, which in turn ought to be reflected in healthier demand as we progress further into 2009.”
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Posted by Gareth
