Andrew Beale

Spear’s Review

When it comes to the luxury French ski property market, Andrew Beale is the expert to trust. The French- and British-qualified estate agent founded Free Spirit Alpine in 2006 to help HNWs find their ‘home in the mountains’.

Beale specialises in international clients, particularly families, who have historically been ‘poorly served’ by the local French agents. Under his leadership, the company has grown to have agents in Méribel, Courchevel, Saint-Martin-de-Belleville and Val d’Isère, and it has received the Carte Professionnelle recognition from the French government. 

‘The biggest change [in the last decade] is in the ownership of properties – they’ve become year-round things,’ Beale tells Spear’s. A growing number of families have ‘discovered the Alps are a wonderful place to be all year-round’.

Adviser Profile

There has been an extraordinary period of expansion in Free Spirit Alpine’s established core markets, as the firm has continued serving buyers from Europe, Scandinavia and the UAE. Building on this success, it has pushed into other territories and countries, adding new clients from North and South America, South Africa and the Caribbean. It is a truly international concern with a global clientele.

Despite historically low inventory levels, the recent cost of living and interest rate rises, sales have reached record highs as individual deals and clients become higher in value.

With Covid-related restrictions lifted across the globe and travel once again an easy and enjoyable part of life, the company sees no reason why this global trend need not continue.