Shared vacation ownership explained

Shared vacation ownership is very popular in South Africa as an alternative way for families and businesses to own and use holiday homes, apartments, resort & hotel suites as well as luxury villas and lodges for vacations each year.

There are a variety of shared ownership options available in South Africa ranging from Fractional Ownership and Private Residence Clubs, Sectional title hotels as well as various forms of Timeshare.

Although they might appear to be all the same thing, these forms of vacation ownership vary in the degree of real estate ‘ownership’ together with ‘right to use’ as well as the buyer’s objectives and motivations to purchase.

Some people may be seeking usage of a portfolio of holiday resorts for a 10 or 20 year period, others are looking long term shared ownership of free standing holiday homes and others a mix of leisure or corporate use with an underlying property investment component with expected annual cash returns.

Here are some of the shared ownership concepts in more detail

Fractional Ownership Explained

Fractional ownership can be defined as shared ownership and shared usage of professionally managed holiday home, hotel and resort suites as well as villas and lodges. As the real estate is co-owned by more than one individual, this means the initial capital investment and ongoing running costs are drastically reduced as these monthly costs are shared amongst the owners.

More on Fractional ownership

Private Residence Clubs

A Private Residence Club or PRC is often referred as the most exclusive form of shared ownership luxury real estate that is directly serviced by a leading hotel or hospitality operator. Private Residence Clubs provide their members with exclusive usage of luxury holiday homes, penthouses, hotel & resort suites as well as exquisite lodges and villas. Private residence memberships in South Africa are commonly found in exclusive golf and wine estates, as well as luxury hotels and game reserves.

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Shared ownership of Hotel and Resort suites

This form of shared ownership in South Africa is known as Sectional title hotel ownership or Condo’s as they are commonly referred to in the States.  Shared ownership of Hotel rooms is a convenient alternative for businesses owners and families to own serviced suites, rooms, suites and lodges each of which are managed by the hotel itself. Owners can enjoy usage of the hotel for a defined period each year as well as sharing in the profits of the lease pool.

More on Sectional Title hotel ownership

Timeshare in South Africa

For over 30 years, Timeshare has been the most popular form of shared vacation ownership in countries such as the USA and Europe and South Africa, which now boasts and impressive 260 000 individual weeks already purchased in various holiday resorts around the country.

There are a variety of timesharing options available to purchase, these include 'fixed' and 'floating' weeks as well as holiday points and vacation clubs. Although each of these products differs, they collectively provide owners with the ‘right to use’ of one or more holiday resorts for a defined period each year.

The timesharing or right to use can vary from a specific week in one resort to a number of days or weeks in a portfolio that includes hundreds of holiday resorts around the world. Generally the right to use or timeshare ownership lifespan ranges from 5 to 20 years.

View resorts in South Africa 

A well regulated industry

In South Africa the shared vacation ownership industry is regulated by the industry trade body VOASA, short for the Vacation Ownership Association of Southern Africa, This organisation assists the various companies and individuals within the industry with best practice as well as supporting the public with queries and advice.  

Over the past 20 years VOASA (recently renamed from TISA) have been instrumental with the supporting growth in the South African vacation ownership industry through their alliances with other global trade bodies as well as assisting international investment and strategic partnerships in South Africa.    

More about VOASA