I used to be very active in researching and structuring fractional ownership properties in France due to the interest from my newsletter readers.
Seven years ago I created a website specialising in fractional ownership in France and have worked with over 50 developments and properties.
However I found most of the “offers” selling shares in real estate were for unsuitable or overpriced properties. I have dealt with and recommended a few in Paris which were good value, these sell very quickly as Paris has a unique caché plus it has seen constantly increasing real-estate prices (up till now), others, mostly properties in rural France, simple did not make commercial sense.
My experience is that, for a property in joint ownership to be viable it must offer something significantly “extra” to just accommodation – a spa, skiing or golf perhaps or other special recreational services or unique environment.
Speculators who buy a property to be then sold in shares make offers which inflate the values of the property, claim unrealistic “rental” potentials and rarely know or explain the maintenance or management costs involved. The profit resides with the initial purchaser and the other shareholders have an asset usually worth much less than their investment.
I am beginning to see some potentially viable projects again here in Languedoc, but in all cases the owners or developers are not interested in offering sales on a fractional basis. Their feeling is that the extra complications are not worth the the trouble.
To invest in something that is overpriced, difficult to sell and to tie yourself to accommodation which may not match your occupancy requirements for vacations does not make sense to me.