In Switzerland, there are more millionaires than anywhere else. And the M-Club is growing and growing. German billionaires and millionaires are already here, but more and more are coming. Corona contributes to this.
The super-rich have been moving to Switzerland from all over the world for decades: banks, discretion, security and a breathtaking backdrop are some of the reasons for this. The corona pandemic is now spurring the run:
“The pandemic triggered a boom in demand for luxury real estate,” reports UBS. The highest prices per square meter are achieved in the municipality of Cologny near Geneva. A single square meter there costs as much as an entire apartment in some German municipalities: the equivalent of around 33,000 euros.
Corona has intensified many people’s longing for a safe haven, UBS analysts believe: “The risk of higher taxes for top earners (is) manageable – unlike in some places abroad – thanks to a stable fiscal position.” In Switzerland, the debt ratio is 40 percent of the gross domestic product. For comparison: in Germany it is around 70 percent, in other countries, such as France, it is even more than 100 percent.
Many wealthy people with German roots already enjoy the advantages of Switzerland: for example the entrepreneur Klaus-Michael Kühne from Hamburg from the logistics group Kuehne + Nagel. The magazine “Bilanz” ranks him number one on the list of the richest Germans. She estimates his fortune at more than ten billion francs. Or the heirs of the Jacobs family, who grew up in the coffee trade in Germany and run a holding company in Zurich. With an estimated fortune of almost twelve billion Swiss francs, they are in second place.
The Liebherr family of the construction machinery manufacturer belongs to this list as well as the industrial family von Finck, the dairy entrepreneur Theo Müller and the descendants of Franz Ströher, the founder of the Wella hair care company.
Bank Credit Suisse estimates that in 2020 almost every sixth inhabitant (14.9 percent) belonged to the millionaires club. Even if that is a generous estimate: the total number should be in the millions. Apart from the smallest states like Monaco, no other country in the world has such a density of millionaires. The billionaires are not a small group either: 135 have as much money on their way as the magazine “Bilanz” estimates. Calculations are made in dollars – one franc is currently around 1.09 dollars or 0.92 euros.
Now new millionaires are coming into the country. Lawyer Enzo Caputo, who helps foreign clients to live in Switzerland, speaks of a 25 percent increase in demand. “I’ve also seen a lot of growth from Germany,” he says. Other lawyers even speak of up to 40 percent more inquiries. This cannot be verified, discretion is the top priority.
“I do a kind of horse-trading with the canton, I negotiate contracts on a flat rate taxation,” says Caputo of the German press agency. Newcomers do not have to declare their wealth. According to the broadcaster RTS, the package of residence permit and flat-rate tax was available in the canton of Jura for the equivalent of around 135,000 euros a year for a single non-European. Even without such deals: Depending on the canton, income tax is around 22 percent, sometimes only half as high as in many other countries.
The move was initiated by the super-rich in the long term, says Caputo. “First the assets are placed with a Swiss bank with a good asset manager. Then the family comes, then the head of the family. ” According to analyzes by the Boston Consulting Group, there is no other country in the world where there is so much wealth from foreigners who do not live in the country: 2.4 trillion dollars (a good 2 trillion euros). That is a quarter of all foreign assets, more than in Hong Kong and Singapore.
Real estate agents are also experiencing a boom: “Demand has increased enormously since summer 2020, especially in the luxury sector,” says Franko Giovanoli, who is responsible for St. Moritz and the surrounding area at Ginesta, of the dpa. “The high-priced apartments were torn from our hands.” People were looking for safe investments for their money.
Rich Chinese, Indians or Arabs did not play a major role, rather interested parties from Germany, Italy and Great Britain. “High-priced”, at Giovanoli, these are properties for tens of millions of euros. Germans tend to be in the “middle segment”. More modest holiday apartments, for example with three and a half rooms, are also available for 1 to 2 million francs (a good 900,000 to 1.9 million euros).
Conclusion of UBS economist Katharina Hofer: “Anyone looking for a place with stable institutions and established luxury locations in global luxury markets should increasingly look to Switzerland.”
Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
