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Lake Annecy exclusive properties

Le Point magazine 31st March 2005, n°1698
Annecy Property special
Claire Meynial  

«In Annecy, the major work of an estate agent consists of hunting out " property "»,
smiles Francis Rigoureau, expert at the French morgage bank Crédit Foncier. Without a large supply, the market has continued to decrease during this property boom. Even more due to
"la loi Littoral" (French Coastal Law) and "la loi Montagne" (Mountain Law), aimed at avoiding urban sprawl on the summits, so hardly anything is being built in Annecy. The town council is doing what it can - 138 council housing units were built in 2004 and 1 800 more should be built by 2008 -, especially « reconditioned » existing buildings, but insufficient
to meet the demand. The result is that prices have taken off. According to the Crédit Foncier bank, the price of the least square metre in a quality construction built twenty years ago, starts today at 2 300 euros. Professionals in the industry claim to be surprised by the levels attained. […]

The latest Swiss tendancy

A phase which isn't likely to be reversed, according to Jean-Claude Clerc, from the estate Agency Clerc Immobilier, specialists in luxury property .
Particularly, due to « bilateral agreements », which should make buying a home in France easier for the Swiss.
High prices on the banks of Lake Geneva, high salaries, the «second pillar» (a pension fund which is released for a purchase) and the record costs of borrowing
(1.5 %) explain the attraction of Swiss clients for property in Anncey.
A phase which remains limited as far as Annecy, located an hour from Geneva.
But between now and the end of 2008, the A 41 bypass will reduce the time to 25 minutes, enough to cause a stampede. The same thing for border workers who will also see their journey time reduced.
« It takes me an hour by car to get to Geneva from where I go on to Roissy to work », observes Jean-François Nore, a long haul purser on Air
France and property owner at Veyrier-du-Lac.

Geneva and its airport within easy reach means that there is a very good chance of attracting a different clientele to Annecy, low cost airline travellers
such as the English who are already won over by the Tarentaise and the Alps. According to Bertrand Sagot, director of the agency HSBC, this is a demanding clientele, who « require a high quality service » and who do not hesitate to invest over 1 million euros in a house. Retired Parisiens are in the same category : « For them, 2 800 or 3 000 euros per square metre, doesn't matter, it is always less than the prices in the capital », remarks
Pierre-André Girard, notaire at Annecy.

These newcomers with ample budgets often choose the most beautiful houses on the East bank. This area has become inaccessible to Annecy first-time home buyers, who have moved
across to the West bank. Houses in Saint-Jorioz, Sévrier and Duingt, even if they have not yet reached a million euros, are selling at the moment for 600 000
euros. […]