ENJOY AUSTRIA'S X FACTOR
Keira Knightley enjoyed the Austrian slopes last year
JANE SLADE discovers a ski resort offering Britons a chance to buy in what was once a restricted province
Austria has always been synonymous with chocolate-box scenery, quiet traditional villages and some of the best skiing in the world. It also has that other X factor: exclusivity.
Princess Caroline of Monaco is often spotted on the slopes of Lech and Zurs and actress Keira Knightley learned to ski last winter in the pretty, up-and-coming resort of Brand.
Until recently Austria imposed restrictions on foreigners buying holiday homes in its more fashionable provinces like the Tirol and Vorarlberg, fearing its pretty Alpine villages would be rendered ghost towns.
However, there has been a loosening up of legislation in Brand in the Vorarlberg where two projects are looking like exciting investment opportunities.
One, called Mountain Retreat, a self-contained complex, comprises 11 buildings of ski-in, ski-out apartments, all being sold under a leaseback scheme offering investors three weeks’ private usage and up to eight or nine per cent average rental yield over 10 years.
Prices range from €191,000 (£173,000) for a one-bedroomed apartment rising to €532,000 (£482,000) for a four-bedroomed apartment. All properties have balconies and private parking.
Prices may seem high but exclusivity comes at a cost. Brand is in the most affluent region of Austria, nudging the Swiss border. It is also at the end of the Brandnertal valley so doesn’t suffer from through-traffic like many resorts.
Brand has also had massive investment over the past five years, including a new ski-lift, which whisks you up the mountain faster, and artificial snow-making to guarantee a longer winter season. There is also an 18-hole golf course, tennis courts and indoor and outdoor swimming pools that give it summer appeal.
Brand, which is within one-and-a-half hours of three international airports and just 45 minutes from the hard-core ski resorts of St Anton and Lech, has long been popular with Britons. Several bought ski chalets during the Sixties and have now retired there because little has changed; it is still quiet and the scenery just as beautiful.
Brand was a particular favourite with the late newsreader Andrew Gardner, comedian Harry Worth and the comedy duo Little and Large.
Now it is being discovered by a younger generation keen to benefit from a resort that does not suffer intolerable queues at high season and is small enough that you can walk back to your apartment after a day on the slopes.
A further five building complexes have just been completed with 16 one- to five-bedroomed apartments available called Alpine Apartments. These offer owners a rare opportunity to buy a home outright.
Properties here cost from €267,000 (£250,000) for a one-bedroomed apartment rising to €750,000 (£680,000) for a five-bedroomed apartment.
“The rentals are very good in Brand because it is in the most affluent province in Austria,” says Jessica Delaney of Investors in Property, UK agent for both schemes.
“It is also popular with the Swiss as it is near the border but less expensive than Switzerland. Austria has always been fashionable, which is why its prices have held up well.
“Where else can you buy a property and have two completely different holiday experiences in a year?”
● MORE INFORMATION:
investorsinproperty.com/020 8905 5511.
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