Sunny and share

The fractional ownership industry is maturing as a new range of shared purchase opportunities come to market. By Sonia Jacobs

Fractional ownership is now well established as an option for buyers of luxury second homes. It has evolved rapidly in Europe with innovative developers offering high end individual properties to savvy buyers, many of whom can afford to buy outright but prefer to share the cost of buying and maintaining a second home they will not use full-time.

With a background in the sector spanning over a decade, Lighthouse has been involved with a diverse range of fractional ownership projects across Europe, the Caribbean and North America. The group also established its own brand in 2015. Urbane8 is a portfolio of one and two bedroom apartments in global cities such as London, Paris, New York and Barcelona.

“We saw a trend several years ago for combining business travel to a city with an extended leisure stay with friends and family. We wanted to offer an alternative to the high cost of hotels and serviced apartments and something that also gave owners a high range of additional services,” explains Lighthouse director, Joanna Bishop. “Each property is owned outright by a small group of like-minded individuals who can also access other properties within the Urbane8 portfolio. Although originally aimed at frequent business travellers, we also have a lot of interest from leisure buyers”.

Lighthouse also operates sojourn8, one of the few portals dedicated to the promotion of luxury real estate for fractional purchase around the world. The site has an eclectic mix of over 90 properties including ski-based homes in Mammoth Lakes, California and the Alps, the world-renowned Royal Westmoreland resort in Barbados and a villa on the Amalfi Coast near Naples with use of a luxury motor yacht.

A recent addition is a 9-bedroom Georgian mansion in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland’s ‘Hidden Gem’. It offers a unique opportunity to own a stately home to use with friends and family. Located in the heart of Scotland’s finest field sports and within easy reach of Trump Turnberry and Royal Troon and Edinburgh and the Lake District, the property is also attractive to corporate buyers for use by directors and staff and for entertaining clients.

Adds Joanna: “It’s certainly an exciting time to be involved with group ownership of luxury real estate. Our buyers are astute, high net worth individuals who see the benefits of owning a second home with a few other like-minded individuals, many of whom will own several fractional properties around the world.”