Assetz® News » HOME | RSS Feed FEED | LIST ALL ARTICLES | ASSETZ HOMEPAGE
Investment Property News from Assetz

Assetz® Property News Service

Skiing outside the box

2nd January 2009 | back to article listings BACK    print this article PRINT

While many people will now be returning from their Christmas holidays back to work, those who have spent part or all of the festive period in the ski resorts of Alpine France will not be the only ones heading there this winter. For months either side of Christmas the slopes will be packed with holidaymakers from near and far.

This being the case, many is the investor who may be keen on making their French property investment a snowy one, either in the Alps or the Pyrenees.

However, as Shelter Offshore has pointed out, there may be a snag. In a popular resort like Chamonix, only the seriously rich can afford a chalet on the slopes. This, therefore, is not the territory of the average buy-to-let investor.

On the other hand, the site noted, the market does offer some opportunities. One of these is the possibility that some properties will become more affordable due to the general downward trend for French property prices. More definitively, there is the possibility of buying and renovating other plots of land or properties and turning them into accommodation in sites within reach of the slopes.

Furthermore, the website suggests, the application of creative thinking may bring some advantages. For example, while a property on the north-facing side of the mountain will get more snow, conversely one in a more open area will receive more sunshine and therefore be more attractive for the year-round attractions such as hiking and mountain biking that can be had in the Alps.

Another way investors may be able to think creatively is by considering which resorts they may actually want to invest in or near. On New Year's Eve the Daily Telegraph produced its list of the best ten resorts for snowboarders. In the French Alps it listed Tignes as the best of the lot, with Avoriaz in 8th place. If one were to add to this the fact that some resorts - like Chamonix - are particularly glamorous, then one consideration is to invest first at a lower point in the market. Just as a hotelier would not start by trying to buy the Ritz, so an investor in ski property may look to less fashionable resorts.

Other factors may play a part in long-term growth. For instance, the well-documented effects of global warming on the climate in these mountains may make an investment in a high-altitude resort a wise one for the longer run. An Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development report in 2007 found that of 609 resorts spread across the different Alpine countries, a one degree rise in average temperatures could make over 100 of them no longer viable.

The most fashionable ski resort in the world, will all its finery and glitz, is nothing without snow and if those at lower altitude struggle, the result could be that properties in less-fashionable high resorts become much more popular and therefore valuable.

This is a press release by Assetz also available at http://press.assetz.co.uk/articles/4563.html. Alternatively, please see our full press release archive.

Assetz® is a UK and International Property Investment Specialist. Please visit our property sites shown below.

Assetz for Investors UK Assetz Hotels Assetz Homes Assetz International Assetz France Assetz Spain Assetz Cyprus Assetz Germany Assetz Portugal Assetz Ski Assetz Cape Verde Assetz USA Assetz Finance Assetz Fund Management

Accessing the news service

You can view all of the Assetz® UK, International and UK Property Investment Articles and News here.

We also provide an RSS Feed Feed of the news service, or you can view all articles. Click here to view more information on RSS readers and how they make reading online news more convenient.

eXTReMe Tracker