An Introduction to Fractionals
Fractional ownership is a phenomenon that is flourishing. While traditional luxury business product markets sink, and numerous business sectors batten down the hatches, its a market that continues to thrive apparently undaunted by the wider western economic downturn. If anything, the market is actually growing… But what is fractional ownership? And how, in the midst of the credit crunch, is it consistently out-performing its more traditional rivals?
Before we bring things up to date, let us look back at the history of the sector. Although there are many tales about the true pioneers of fractional ownership, it is widely agreed that the fractional property market began to form in America in the early 1990s, with groups of friends coming together to purchase holiday properties. By its very nature, a holiday property is something one uses only occasionally, so rather than leave their property unoccupied for much of the year, a group could purchase one between them and split usage and costs.
From these small acorns grew the mighty oak that we now call fractional ownership, a concept now so widely understood in the US that a recent study by PriceWaterhouseCoopers found that one-sixth of affluent households would consider investing in fractionals in the near future.
