If you are not the sharing type, then fractional ownership, which simply means buying a portion of a property rather than the whole thing, is unlikely to appeal. For others, it is a way of buying a second home for less.

• “Fractions” are usually equity shares (not timeshares), sold as a percentage of the property or as member shares of a club of affiliated homes. Most fractions entitle you to four or six weeks’ stay a year, some of which you may be able to swap with other properties if you’re in a club.

• Seek legal advice. “There is no industry standard for what fractional ownership actually means, so make sure you know exactly what you’re purchasing,” says Piers Brown, founder of the website fractionallife.com.

• Be clear about how the allocation of weeks will work. What if the share is cheaper but you can’t use it in the summer months or during half-term? Many fractionally owned properties have a rota for popular periods.

• Loans for fractional schemes are scarce — owners usually buy outright, although it is possible to remortgage your main residence, according to Melanie Bien, of Savills Private Finance. Make sure your mortgage debt is below 75 per cent of your home’s value.

• Expect to pay extra for the maintenance fee, which can be more than £5,000 a year. Treatments at facilities such as spas will not usually be included.

• The weak pound means that you may obtain better value by buying outside the Eurozone or the US. Some clubs allow you to exchange only with properties of a similar standard to your original purchase, but others allow buyers to purchase a share of a property somewhere cheaper, such as South Africa, and swap into more expensive properties.

• Be realistic about resale value. The evidence so far suggests that fractionally owned properties keep pace with the rest of the market, but the concept is still fairly new and a bit of a gamble.

• Treat guarantees of rental income with scepticism. The developer will normally let surplus weeks for you but will charge commission, which can be high.

• It is not necessarily a good investment. You are paying for convenience and cheap entry to a high standard of living, but the developer is the one making the money, not you, by marking up each fraction to obtain a higher overall price for the property.

• If the company fails, and your name is on the deed for your share, you will be insulated from the company’s financial performance because you have an asset that can be sold to get your money back. However, if the facilities — such as spa or pool — disappear with the developer, the property’s value may plummet.

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