Buy the high life: The luxury Swiss ski chalets that pay their own way
NICK DALTON visits the luxury Swiss mountain apartments where the owners ‘ski for free'.
With the return of Ski Sunday and school half-term ski trips only weeks away, many will be dreaming of buying a winter holiday home that will pay its way.
Now Powder Byrne Properties, a branch of the luxury ski holiday operator, has come up with a scheme that it says will let you ski free by renting out your Swiss mountain home for only a few times each season.
Instead of building basic apartments that will hold little rental attraction (or income) the company has hit on a workable solution by indulging in luxury.
Casa Fortuna, which opened in the autumn, is one of several smart but unassuming blocks in a complex set against a wooded backdrop in the Swiss ski resort of Flims.
Although externally modest, apartments in Casa Fortuna and sister development Casa Flumina have been given chunky mountain chic interiors.
There is a mix of rustic wood and local granite, even in the sauna and games room.
And the heated boot room, with its decanters of plum liqueur and brandy, is more chic than many bars I've visited.
This is somewhere that I could happily live full-time.
Instead of building basic apartments that will hold little rental attraction the company indulges in luxury
Luxury is key, with underfloor heating, wall-length windows and big, open-plan lounge and dining areas.
The five apartments sold quickly, from about £800,000, and Powder Byrne now has a new project in less well-known Arosa, up a winding road that keeps out the coaches, while still (like Flims) being only an hour from Zurich.
Chesa Araus apartments will be built this summer and follow the same Powder Byrne Properties luxury formula.
The block will have nine two and three-bedroom apartments offering views over trees and down the valley, with off-plan prices starting at about £715,000 (CHF 995,000), rising to £2.85million (CHF 4,000,000).
With an average Swiss interest-only mortgage covering about half the cost, buyers would need to find up to another £400,000 to buy the cheapest apartment.
Of course that apartment, with two bedrooms, stone log-burning fireplace, luxury fitted kitchen and bathroom, would be top of the pile in many lesser developments.
Nick Williams, head of Powder Byrne Properties, says that an apartment would only need to be rented out for two to three weeks in a season to cover management charges and mortgage (recently at a low of 1.5 per cent).
That would still leave enough for a family of four to buy a season's lift pass.
With low-season rentals not much below high-season prices, if you rented it out for as little as six weeks Williams reckons on a good 4.5 per cent income.
If you were happy to rent most of the season it could be possible to double that, and two families sharing the cost would gain a better investment income than most savings schemes.
Property prices for luxury apartments in Swiss ski resorts have risen by 10-15 per cent in the past several years and a good profit at resale would be a safe bet, says Williams.
For those hoping to ski regularly as well as earn some rental income, these properties include membership of the Swiss Owners Collection, which helps with private airport transfers, ski guiding, children's programmes, shuttles to and from the slopes and a concierge service.
Surely the answer to every skier's dream.
- For more information, call 020 8246 5306 or visit powderbyrneproperties.ch.