Is London's loss Switzerland's gain? In the wake of the UK Budget, which announced a 50 per cent income rate tax to come in next year, there has been growing interest among high net worth individuals in moving to Switzerland, where tax rates can be much lower.
One Swiss canton, Zug, has been targeting a prime group, hedge fund managers, and hoping to lure them to move their operations closer to the Alps. Estate agency Aylesford International has even organised a seminar on "Moving to Switzerland", in conjunction with RBS Coutts bank and lawyers Hogan & Hartson.
Hogan & Hartson say the average rate of income tax paid in Switzerland is 25 per cent, but the actual rate paid by wealthy people is the subject of negotiation with individual cantons. Zug comes out near the bottom of the table, with figures from the Swiss Federal Tax Administration showing an individual married with no children earning CHF 250,000 paying just 15.93 per cent tax, while a similar person on CHF 500,000 pays 19.92 per cent.
For anybody who wants to move to Switzerland, the first step is to obtain a 'B' residency permit, which is relatively straightforward for EU nationals – in principle at least. In recent years, the number of permits has been strictly controlled, and there has been a complete moratorium on new permits in some cantons.
And there are two factors which mean the stream of wealthy Brits migrating to Switzerland is unlikely to be a flood. Firstly, property in Switzerland is expensive. Apartments in central Geneva or Zurich cost around CHF 20,000 (£12,000) per square metre, according to Aylesford, and prices actually rose by four per cent in the first quarter of 2009. And property for sale is also in short supply. Jeremy Rollason of ski specialist Alpine Homes, said: "The vast majority of Brits looking at Switzerland would choose Geneva because it is French-speaking, but there are very few good properties available and at a high price."
A selection of properties in Switzerland can be found here.
Alexander Garrett is a freelance property writer who contributes regularly to The Observer and British Airways' Business Life.