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President Donald Trump appears to have had a major impact on small ski villages in the Swiss Alps.
In the first few months of this year, the newly constructed apartment in the village of Undermatt has attracted more than 1,260 inquiries from US investors, with the project developers suggesting that demand was driven by “flight to safety” by nervous Americans.
They had purchased or placed an apartment deposit worth SFR 14.2mn ($17.4 million) by April 10th. In 2023, Andermatt had no American buyers for their new apartment.
More than a third of this year’s sales and deposits took place the week before Easter as trade tariffs imposed by the Trump administration wreaked havoc in the market.
Russell Collins, the Chief Commercial Officer of the Undermatt Swiss Alps, which manages and develops the project, and the Chief Executive of the Undermatt Swiss Alps, which already built and sells plan-off plans, said there has been more U.S. tourism interest since the American company Vail Resorts bought a majority stake in ski resort infrastructure in 2022.
Still, he said the surge in US demand this year was a “clear outlier.” “From the beginning of the year, since the last six weeks, it’s been like a hockey stick in terms of sales volume and enquiries,” he said.
The Undermatt boom comes as wealthy Americans are creating contingency plans to move their assets to Switzerland © Kim Leuenberger/Andermatt Swiss Alps
Andermatt Swiss Alps, 51% owned by Egyptian Montenegrin businessman Samih Sawiris, his company Orascom, is 49% unique in Switzerland, and is exempt from restrictions on foreign buyers to buy real estate, making it a barometer of foreign demand.
The SFR1.8 billion project in Undermat, a garrison town known as the Swiss military training centre, includes hotels, restaurants and golf courses. It’s only a few hours by car or train from Zurich.
According to Collins, buyers are looking for safe, Swiss Franc religion real estate investments due to the uncertainty created by the new US administration. The Swiss franc has risen 11% against a dollar in January since January, up nearly 12% over the past year.
The Undermat boom was reported last month as wealthy Americans from the US and abroad are creating emergency plans to move their assets to Switzerland amid the uncertainty caused by the Trump administration.
Other European cities, such as Madrid, are experiencing a rush of “Trump administration refugees” trying to take root.
Philipp Zünd, a partner at KPMG in Zurich, said it serves global wealthy clients who want to move to Switzerland and that the number of Americans contacted companies seeking residency in the country has more than doubled compared to this year’s total.
“In the past few months, we’ve seen more Americans want to move here and into Europe more widely,” he said.
In Switzerland, most property purchases by foreigners are significantly limited under Lex Koller’s rules. However, the government exempts the Undermatt Swiss Alps because of its size, allowing international buyers to buy and sell apartments and homes at will without approval or retention period.
Furthermore, the second home law of the country, which restricts the construction of a second home to 20% of the village’s housing stock, will not apply to the Undermatt Swiss Alps until 2040.
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Most Andermatt’s buyers come from the East Coast of the US, but are based as far away as Nebraska and Miami.
Undermatt Buyer, a New York-based high-tech entrepreneur in his early 50s, asked him to remain anonymous, saying Trump was one of the “major factors” in his purchase decision.
He and his partner purchased a two-bedroom unit for the SFR 2.2mn in November. He said Switzerland was stable and safe when the US was not that small under Trump.
“It’s not just about financial uncertainty, it’s not about what (US) is going to turn into and what it’s going to be,” he said. He also added that he transferred some funds to a Swiss bank and took EU citizenship so that he and his partners could live in Switzerland.
Jeremy Rollson, head of Alpine Sales at Savilles in London, said Undermatt was “a unique project in Switzerland” and its sales had risen.
He added: “The majority of Swiss buyers are still European, but since 2020, the number of US buyer registrations in Europe has tripled.”
