A growing number of Chinese buyers are being lured to the Swiss property market, not only due to the country's beautiful scenery, but also because of its good-quality education, strong currency appreciation, and low tax rates.
'In the past two years we sold a lot of properties to Chinese buyers because of one important point - education,' said Natalie Mik, head of luxury and international markets for real estate agency de Rham Sotheby's International Realty in Switzerland.
'Many Chinese bought properties in Switzerland because of its good public and private schools, to which they have sent their children for education. They can live in the properties when they visit their children,' she said.
Mik, who was in Hong Kong this week for a road show about investing in Switzerland, said the agency closed 14 holiday-home transactions involving Chinese buyers in the past two years - triple the number of previous years. The deals ranged from the purchase of modern apartments to ski chalets.
Under Swiss law, foreigners can only buy holiday homes in designated cities with net floor space of no more than 200 square metres. They may not live in the home for more than six months a year and may rent out the property when they are not occupying it.
Since the designated locations are usually holiday resort areas, rental return is high because accommodation in Switzerland is expensive during the holiday seasons. Mik said rental income for six months might be enough to cover the tax for buying the property as well as the mortgage payment for the entire year.