Luxury Property Focus 2024
Key observations
Price increases for luxury Swiss real estate slowed significantly last year to around 2%.
The highest prices paid were in the mountain towns of St. Moritz and Gstaad.
For the current year, we expect prices to fall slightly.
Over the past ten years, the central Swiss municipalities have become more favored.
Monaco returned to the top of the list of the most expensive locations.
The price boom we’ve seen in the Swiss luxury property market, which peaked at nearly 10% in 2022, appears to be drawing to a close. Last year, luxury home prices rose by just over 2%. For the current year, we expect a slight decline in prices in the luxury segment, in the low-single-digit percentage range.
Advertised properties are garnering less interest, and asking prices are being increasingly challenged by prospective buyers. If sellers are pressed for time, they may have to accept price reductions. However, the most exclusive villas, priced in the double-digit million range, especially those in the mountainous regions, are likely to be less affected by this slowdown. And, while the overall increase in luxury real estate prices lagged behind that of the wider market in 2023, they still sit some 25% above pre-COVID levels.
Over a longer time horizon, luxury markets, especially traditional ones, have shown remarkable durability, with short-term cyclical price corrections over the past decade mostly having been recouped.
As a safe haven, Switzerland, with its stable institutions and high standard of living, will likely continue to be a draw for foreign buyers, particularly given the current geopolitical climate. But this safety has become significantly more expensive given the strength of the Swiss franc and the cost of Swiss luxury property, likely curbing international demand.
Switzerland’s luxury markets
Switzerland’s luxury markets
Three out of four of the most expensive luxury real estate locations can be found in Switzerland’s mountain districts.
St. Moritz tops the ranking with prices of over 42,000 francs per square meter.
Gstaad comes in a close second, where prices start at around 39,000 francs per square meter, while Cologny, on Lake Geneva, commands prices of over 35,000 francs per square meter, similar to what you would have to pay in Verbier.
In other municipalities with a high proportion of luxury real estate-for example in the Geneva region and on Lake Zurich-luxury properties start around 25,000 francs per square meter.
For a property, in good condition sitting on 1,500 square meters of land, a purchase price of eight to ten million francs is to be expected. Luxury prices start at just under 20,000 francs per square meter in Ticino.
Global luxury properties
Global luxury properties
Monaco returned to the top of the list of the most expensive global luxury destinations after a one-year hiatus, nudging Aspen back into second place. Rounding out the top three is St. Moritz.
Gstaad and Verbier now also rank among the world's most expensive locations. They are followed by Singapore, London, and New York, while Geneva and Paris are on an equal footing. As a result, post pandemic, these global holiday destinations have overtaken established luxury metropolitan markets.
Despite very high price increases and strong demand, prices per square meter in Miami and Dubai remain significantly lower than their peers.
