Ski or swim: holiday flats in the Austrian Tyrol are good for winter and summer sports and offer a four per cent rental return

The Austrian Tyrol comes with true year-round Alpine appeal. While many of Europe’s ski resorts slide to a standstill once winter is over, Austria in general and its winter playgrounds in particular remain resolutely open for business.

Austrian tourist board figures show that 51 per cent of annual visitors arrive in the summer months, and a growing number of them are British, up nearly four per cent in the past year.

The Ötztal Valley in the Tyrol is Austria’s second most popular tourist destination after Vienna, attracting four million visitors a year. It’s filled with traditional Alpine architecture but it’s not afraid of innovation: James Bond fans will recognise the ICE-Q restaurant, a striking contemporary building at 9,800ft above Sölden that featured in the film Spectre (2015).

Ötztal is family friendly with an emphasis on outdoor activities: snow sports in winter and hiking, biking, kayaking and lake swimming in summer. In western Austria, the German and Italian borders are both within an hour and Lake Garda

SKI FLATS

The village of Oetz in the Ötztal Valley has supermarkets, a train station and several hotels and guesthouses. Five minutes’ walk from the centre in a quiet, green setting, Kristall Spaces is selling off-plan flats at All-Suite Resort Ötztal. A ski lift 300ft away connects with 50 miles of slopes including snow-sure Kühtai, Austria’s highest ski resort.

The 55 one- to three-bedroom flats will be in five modern-style buildings, sharing indoor and outdoor pools, spa and restaurant.

Prices are from £189,300 for furnished homes of 441sq ft to 958sq ft, excluding VAT at 20 per cent, as owners must make these homes available to rent for part of the year. A four per cent net rental return for five years is on offer with full on-site management.

“Oetz is 30 minutes from Innsbruck airport,” says Branson Atterbury of Kristall Spaces. “Mad-keen skiers will probably head 20 minutes on to Sölden but Oetz is better for year-round, multi-generational activities.”

Atterbury says prices are 18-20 per cent lower in Oetz than in prime nearby ski resorts of Sölden and Obergurgl. “Canny buyers realise the value further down the valley.”

WHAT ELSE CAN I BUY?

Kristall Spaces has two other projects in the Tyrol, in Paznaun and Fieberbrunn, both from £183,000 for furnished one- to three-bedroom flats.

Two-bedroom homes start at £245,600 and three bedrooms from £362,000. Annual service charges start from £3,345 and owners must also make their homes available to rent.

Paznaun, under an hour from Innsbruck, is near Ischgl, with 175 miles of slopes and legendary upmarket après-ski. Fieberbrunn is a charming village, close to Kitzbühel and an hour from Salzburg airport.

East of Innsbruck in Zillertal, Pure International has two three-bedroom apartments in a new chalet close to the ski slopes for £480,000 each. The homes face south-west with views down the Zillertal Valley to Mayrhofen.

Kristall Spaces: propertysaleaustria.co.uk

Pure International: pureintl.com

ALL-ACTION PLAYGROUND

LOOKING for an adrenaline buzz? Head to Area 47, an outdoor sports centre in the Ötztal Valley. Billing itself as Europe’s “craziest” action playground, the five-acre site offers 35 land, water and air-based sports.

Swing across Austria’s highest rope course or tackle an 88ft climbing wall. Or perhaps wakeboarding on a huge lake, water park rides, motocross, kayaking or canyoning are more you?

Area 47 is in a protected natural setting of mountains, forests and two rapid-water rivers that attracts 250,000 visitors in the five months it is open each year. For active families, groups of friends, amateurs and professionals, this is holiday nirvana. Day visits from £20, accommodation from £22 per person per night.

Visit area47.at for more.