Investment in resorts and infrastructure is critical to the ski industry, whether it’s new ski lifts to reduce waiting times or to link new ski areas, snow-making technology to provide assurance of snow or new residential developments, hotels and leisure facilities to encourage tourism, says the Savills Ski Report, launched today.

Many resorts in the Alps have seen property prices increase over the past 12 months, with the prime market generally seeing larger rises in value than the mainstream market. Factors such as lack of supply, improved dual seasonality and new ski lifts are some of the major drivers of values in these resorts.

Global skier numbers were up for the second year following three years of decline with 350 million global ski visits taking place. However, younger skiers are a driver for a growing trend of shorter, more frequent ski holidays. Buyers and visitors alike need the resort to work for them and for the resort be running and operating smoothly, both in the winter and summer months.  

The ski industry also faces the increasing risk of climate change and the resilience of a resort is key. The Savills Ski Resilience Index, in its third year and exclusive to Savills, ranks 56 global ski resorts comparing five key metrics: snowfall, reliability, season length, altitude and temperature.

Over the past three years, the same six resorts have dominated the Resilience Index, vying for the top positions between them – Zermatt (Switzerland), Saas-Fee (Switzerland), Breuil-Cervinia (Italy), Vail (USA), Aspen (USA) and Obertauern (Austria). Zermatt and Saas-Fee benefit from their high altitude locations while Breuil-Cervinia saw a high level of snowfall in the 2018/2019 season. 

Andermatt continues to rise up the index, moving to seventh place from 10th in 2018 and 45th in 2017. This Swiss resort has benefitted from particularly strong snowfall over the past two seasons improving its score for both snowfall and reliability. Similarly, Obergurgl in Austria has risen 21 places since 2017. Conversely, Norway’s Trysil has fallen the most over the past three years dropping from 20th in 2017 to 42nd this year. Seefeld in Austria has fallen 18 places over the same period.

Prime Alpine property prices

Courchevel 1850 has taken the top spot for prime property prices at €23,030 per sq m ($2,381 per sq ft), up from third place last year with Aspen (€20,509 per sq m/$2,120 per sq ft) and Val d’Isère (€20,260 per sq m/$2,094 per sq ft) dropping from first place last year) taking second and third place respectively. Verbier (€20,083 per sq m/$2,076 per sq ft), in fourth place, is the highest value Swiss resort, just ahead of Andermatt (€17,285 per sq m/ $1,787 per sq ft).

At the other end of the price league, Bad Gastein (€3,178 per sq m/$329 per sq ft) and La Plagne (€4,750 per sq m/$491 per sq ft) rank as the two lowest value resorts. Interestingly, Breuil-Cervinia (€6,173 per sq m/$638 per sq ft) and Saas-Fee (€8,402 per sq m/$869 per sq ft), which ranked so highly in the Resilience Index, are further down the value scale.

When it comes to ultra-prime property, Aspen takes the lead with an average price per sqm at €44,500 ($4,595 per sq ft). In second place is Courchevel 1850 at €33,400 per sq m/$3,453 per sqft just ahead of Vail at €32,900 per sq m/$3,399 per sq ft.

Further information

Read Savills Ski Report or contact Savills Ski