EVEN for the French Alps, Megève is an expensive place to buy property. If you come here looking for a chalet with £2 million burning a hole in the pocket of your salopettes, you’ll leave with little change.

It is a ski resort with an impeccable pedigree: it was founded by Baroness Maurice de Rothschild, who reportedly got fed up with slumming it in St Moritz and decided to create her own exclusive ski resort. She built an hotel here in 1914, and since then European high-flyers have been flocking to the area. Brigitte Bardot and the French rocker Johnny Hallyday holidayed here in the 1960s; more recently it has been patronised by the Swedish Royal Family, while Elle Macpherson (pictured), Naomi Campbell, Hugh Grant and Jemima Khan have all stayed in town.

The reason for Megève’s enduring popularity is that it is well located, only an hour’s drive from Geneva. It is also very pretty, with a pedestrianised centre flanked by 18th-century buildings, and extremely chic. Well-to-do French families winter in Megève. Its shops cover all the essentials, such as Hermès and Prada, spas – including the fashionable Fermes de Marie – hip après-ski venues such as the Jazz Club, and eight Michelin-starred restaurants. There is also an 18-hole golf course and an annual snow polo event, attended by the world’s finest players.

Property here was never going to be cheap: one prime-spot development just launched is the Balcons de Megève, 17 ski-in, ski-out apartments in four chalets, a five-minute walk from the centre of Megève and on sale through Savills.

The chalets are three or four-bedroom. Prices for a three-bedroom flat start at £1.1 million for one measuring 94 sq m and rise to £1.6 million for the largest four-bedroom, measuring 144 sq m. Flats come with remote-control h e a t i n g , south-facing balconies and underground car parking with heated ramps. More than half have been sold since the development’s mid-December launch, to buyers from the UK, France, Greece, Italy and Russia.

For those with slightly shallower pockets, there is the L’Etoile de Meg-ève, on sale through Chesterton International, also five minutes’ walk from the centre. Eight tired-looking chalets, one a former hotel, will soon be turned into 16 luxurious flats – ranging from one to five-bedroom – and two stand-alone chalets. Total prices, including all interior renovation work, for a two-bedroom with balcony measuring 57 sq m starts at £461,000, rising to £1.5 million for a 159 sq m four-bedroom flat with balcony. Building is due to finish by April next year. Susan O’Connor, of Midelin Investments, the developers of L’Etoile de Megève, said: “It was a bit of a coup for us to get the site, as property comes up for sale here so rarely.”

In the less central areas, you get more square metres for your millions. Le Praz d’Odier, a three or four-bedroom chalet of 140 sq m, ten minutes from the town centre, is on the market for £878,164. Farther afield, in Hameau de Nant Cruy, is Le Cerf Amoureux, with views over Mont Blanc. This 11-bedroom chalet – measuring 1,800 sq m, with spa bath, sauna, steam room, heated outdoor pool and fitness room – is now an hotel, but Chesterton International believes it will be bought and turned into a giant private chalet; it is on the market for £5 million.

In terms of investment, Megève makes a lot of sense. Rental demand is high: Chesterton estimates property owners could earn between £1,000 and £1,200 a week for a one-bedroom, and £1,200 and £2,000 for a two-bedroom in peak season. According to a recent article in Le Figaro, capital growth in Megève is as steep as Mont Blanc is tall, rising by 20 per cent a year since 2000. Not just a pretty face. Contact: Savills International 020-7016 3740; Chesterton International, 020-7201 2070

For advice on how to buy a holiday home abroad, go to: timesonline.co.uk/overseasproperty

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