The Glitterati in the Mountains

It's a truth universally acknowledged that mountain ski resorts and the whole skiing scene has always attracted the rich and famous.

A luxury ski resort is a trendy place to be seen and owning a piece of the mountain is an aspiration for many. Everyone from Formula One drivers to Hollywood A listers and royalty own property in ski regions so they can jet off to the mountains for ski breaks or just a winter retreat whenever they fancy.

Films like Chalet Girl and the Pink Panther (1963 - filmed in Cortina d'Ampezzo) showcase the 'elite' nature of skiing, the culture and the resorts.

The reason buying ski property is so popular is not only sheer luxury of owning that 'piece of the mountain', but because it's considered to be very sound investment.
You can rent out your property to holidaymakers, people on corporate retreats, celebrities, business people etc for high prices, depending on the region, property style and location.

With the rental income being potentially very high in so many ski resort locations, buying ski property if you intend to rent it out can be a very sound investment with long term income opportunities.

It's not known if the high net worth buyers and celebrity or royal ski home owners actually rent their homes out - but buying a luxury ski chalet and renting it out to visiting celebrities would be quite a buzz, wouldn't it?

We know that many celebrities love to ski and the super-rich tend to flock to various glitzy mountain resorts to enjoy a few weeks of skiing, boutique shopping, good food and VIP parties.

Here is a sneaky list of the spots where very well-known faces have been spotted a number of times:

Meribel:

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge

Courcheval:

• The Beckhams
• Leonardo DiCaprio
• Pippa Middleton

St Moritz:

• George & Amal Clooney
• Naomi Campbell
• Tina Turner
• Liz Hurley
• Charlie Chaplin (in his day)
• John Travolta

Aspen

• Mariah Carey
• Jay Z & Beyoncé
• Mel Gibson
• Antonio Banderas
• Ben Fogle
• Gigi & Bella Hadid
• Bill Murray
• Cameron Diaz

Zermatt, Switzerland

• Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie
• Phil Collins

So, what is it about mountain property that attracts the glitterati?

Well, when you can relax in a hot tub overlooking a panorama of the mountain valley, whilst sipping on champagne after a day skiing down freshly powdered slopes.... why would you want to be anywhere else?

If you could enjoy some pampering here in your home in Courcheval after a day on the slopes before heading out for a Michelin star rated meal, you would, wouldn't you?

Or wake up in a room like this, in Park City, Utah?

You will find a great many high end shopping opportunities at many ski resorts, as well as some of the most celebrated restaurants and clubs around. The most luxurious ski resorts include places like Courcheval, Aspen (Colorado), Verbier, Zermatt, Deer Valley (Utah), Telluride (Colorado), Sun Valley (Idaho), Cortina (Italy) and more.
This adds to the appeal of the resort, it attracts the wealthy, the famous, the high net worth individuals and all those who enjoy the finer things in life.

More importantly than all of this, in an economic climate that is has not been entirely stable for the last decade, regardless of fluctuations in property prices, investment in alpine property has remained an excellent investment.

Real estate is widely known to be the best long term investment there is, as most financial experts would agree.  The ski property market is very niche and with ski resorts investing so much in infrastructure improvements, expansions and upgrades, the rental prices tend to rise often.

For further reading on this, check out our guide to wise investment in new properties: the do's and don'ts of finding the right ski property and investing.