The local Government of Canton Valais has hurled a thunderbolt at the Communes (Boroughs), on the Left Bank of the Rhone; a total moratorium on sales to foreign nationals for one year. This includes some of the most popular destinations for British and Irish interests. Verbier, Nendaz, Veysonnaz, Grimentz and other well know destinations. The Right Bank of the Rhone, Crans-Montana (which has a voluntary 1 year moratorium on new developments) and the two neighbours, Anzere and Aminona, are not affected. Those are the only three French speaking ski resorts on the Rive Droite of French speaking Valais.

This “thunderbolt” came into effect on 20th December 2006 and its reverberations are being felt throughout the property market in this region. “This has been an enormous shock to everyone”, says Arlette Adler of Villas Abroad, specialists in the region and members of the Federation of Property Developers, Agents and Consultants (FOPDAC).

“We have been selling properties in Switzerland for over 30 years and appreciate that in recent years there has been a mad rush, particularly from the British, to buy ski property on the Rive Gauche. This has resulted in some over building. However, everyone knew that there were restrictions on foreign purchase and each buyer needed an authorisation. However, the demand for homes caused the rate of building to out strip the number of authorisations available by tenfold as developers started selling off plan - some as far ahead as 2011!

Sadly no foreigner realised he would have to wait up to 6 years for his chosen property. Developers tended not to draw this to the attention of buyers, keen as they were to secure sales. However, this overstretching of resources obviously created a danger of developers going into liquidation as a developer would have to wait years to recoup his investment particularly as the law states a buyer doesn’t own a property until it is entered in the Land Registry and it cannot be entered until it has an authorisation.

These developers were using up their authorisation allocation years in advance!”

Currently the shortest waiting list on the Rive Gauche is two and half years. The longest wait is 6 years. This has resulted now in some developers walking away from projects.
Such a drastic action by the local Government has left the market in turmoil with some small resorts like Champoussin, which has recently started to blossom, feeling that it is the death knell for any expansion plans. Concluded Arlette, “It is a cruel blow to the market place yet in some ways they have brought the problem on themselves as the temptations were too great.

What we do have to look at is protecting buyers and advising them in an un-biased fashion as to what they can buy, where and when.  At present there is hardly anything available in the German speaking Cantons because they don’t really want foreigners. The Italian sector has no skiing. Currently the best opportunities lie in the Valais but they too have brought back the restriction on foreigner’s terms of ownership which states that they cannot sell their property for 10 years. My concern has always been that buyers should be aware.

Understanding the restrictions on buying and equally the importance of the owner’s ability to sell are paramount. However, a home in this part of the world is wonderful. New homes are being built and although not at the rate of before, it nevertheless ensures that when you do buy it is a very good investment – long term”.

Further Information: enquiries@fopdac.com
 

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