In recent years, the Swiss town of Andermatt has received its fair share of column inches, almost all of them positioning it as the new St Moritz, Verbier or Gstaad. In the Savills Ski Prime Price League 2024/25, Andermatt came seventh in the list of top ski resorts, with an average asking price of €22,600 per square metre for prime residential properties. And it is one of the five Swiss ski towns that has enjoyed the fastest property price appreciation in the Alps over the past decade.
Andermatt’s rise is remarkable when you consider that, until the turn of this century, it was a quiet Alpine garrison town where young Swiss soldiers came to do national service. “When I first visited 17 years ago, it was just this funny little town that had quite a serious reputation for backcountry skiing, but other than that had very little going for it,” says Sam Scott, head of Swiss Alps at Savills Ski.
Enter Egyptian billionaire Samih Sawiris, who spotted Andermatt’s potential while helicoptering over the town in 2005. Sawiris is the founder of Orascom Development Holding, a real estate company known for creating destinations in Egypt, Montenegro and the UK. Such was his belief in Andermatt that, by 2007, he had convinced 96% of the municipality to vote in favour of transforming it into an upmarket holiday destination.
By the end of 2023, Sawiris had invested CHF1.67 billion (€1.78 billion) into Andermatt via the conglomerate Andermatt Swiss Alps AG, establishing luxury hotels such as The Chedi, a world-class concert hall designed by Christina Seilern, a championship golf course and a modern architectural district with 42 new apartment buildings.
