Moving to Switzerland – Why Does it Attract So Many British

Moving to Switzerland to one of the Swiss ski resorts like Villars or Verbier is high in favor of English tourists. An increasing number even move the residence here and fly to London to work.

Thanks to more than 310 weekly flights between Great Britain and Geneva, many British citizens travel even from the ski resort to London to do business.

In a restaurant in Villars, the family Hammond from England is just eats lunch. They arrived at Geneva International airport only a few hours ago. A little earlier, they moved into their new three-bedroom apartment for which they in die Schweiz auswandern paid just over one million Swiss francs.

We really preferred Villars, because of the closeness to the International airport of Geneva, says Bill, who operates a business back home in England. Thanks to the weak Swiss Franc against the Euro, we could realize our dream for an apartment in Switzerland. From now on, we can come every weekend and get a taste of living in Switzerland.

The route booms between Geneva and England. You can choose to fly from various cities of the island for a skiing holiday around Geneva. In fact, after skiing a weekend, a few are even considering moving to Switzerland to enjoy a high-end lifestyle.

What does it cost to own in Switzerland

Naturally, the boom of British tourists does not pass by without a trace on real estate prices. On average, the land prices at the ski resort of Villars increased from 380 to 1,300 Swiss Francs a square meter in the last five years. Even the selling prices of chalets and apartments with good infrastructure and an unobstructed view doubled over the last two years.

This is still moderate in compare to the resort of Verbier nearby. There, English clients pushed the prices even higher. People of the finance industry told us, that alone during the super stock exchange year of 2004; around 2,000 bankers received a bonus of one million pounds or more.

The ski resort was greatly profiting from that because the British army maintains a base for mountaineering education. Therefore, many of today’s finance specialists know and like this resort from their service time and decided sooner or later about moving to Switzerland.

The real estate prices jumped up to 25,000 Swiss Francs a square meter. Very often, these buyers have not even seen the object beforehand.

The Hammond family represents only the preliminary stage of a new type of British skiing friends who increasingly appear in the Vaud and Valais holiday destinations during the last few years. While the family still lives in North England and merely comes for regular skiing in the Alpes, other compatriots do just the opposite. They are moving to Switzerland for good and oscillate to work back to England

Playing in Switzerland – Working in London

Mr. Hutchinson, a real estate agent is one of them. Five years ago, he decided as one of the first together with his partner and their two children to move to the resort of Villars, although he continues working in England. He says that the English-speaking schools for children from 3 to 18 years and the astonishingly favourable real estate prices gave him the drive for moving to Switzerland.

Like him think meanwhile many British citizens in the traditionally Victorian ticking town. They came because they like the top location and prefer that part of Switzerland. Surprisingly on their arrival, they found out that the chalet prices in apparently so “expensive Switzerland” compared with their native country are not so high.

As one local shop owner once said, this resort is like a woman that one marries. She is not the most beautiful, not the smartest and not the in die Schweiz umziehen best chef, but the most complete of them all.

These are all very attractive arguments to settle down here with the family. By the way, there are many such locations offering a high-end lifestyle that make moving to Switzerland so attractive. Madame and the children live here by us in nature; Monsieur earns the money in London.

The communication possibilities are getting better and that shortens the workweek for many who are moving to Switzerland. During the winter months, some may only go back to London one or two days a week. – for instance to sign negotiated contracts.

The fact that this model will find more imitators, believes also Mr. Hutchinson. The social life for a family is much better here than in the hectic city of London. For many exactly what they are looking for and discovering what quality moving to Switzerland provides.