Co-ownership of second homes for European buyers
The idea of sharing ownership with friends and family is not a new trend but as a commercial arrangement in Europe, awareness has only started to grow in the last few years, mainly amongst buyers from the UK.
In the United States, co-ownership has been understood and accepted by purchasers for much longer, although most schemes are either based on timeshare with no 'bricks and mortar' ownership, or on the residence club model where large resorts offer a wide range of leisure services, but owners may not stay in the same apartment each time they visit.
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More recently, several start-ups have entered the co-ownership space offering shares in luxury, individual homes in the United States, Mexico and more recently, in Europe.
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It's fair to say that the European experience and perception of timeshare is more negative than in the United States and that may explain why interest in the co-ownership model has seen slower growth. It's important that European buyers understand the difference between co-owning a single family home and simply buying the right to stay at a resort for a fixed week each year.
Increasing numbers of European buyers are now seeing the compelling benefits of co-owning a luxury second home with a few other like-minded families. Our sister company, Sojourn8 is at the forefront of this growing trend. Although 35% of the enquiries it receives are from potential buyers from the United States and Canada and we're delighted that Europe is so popular with North American buyers, we continue to work hard raising awareness with European buyers of this innovative but simple way to own a second home.
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