The size of the North American shared ownership market dropped to $860 million, according to research reported today by Ragatz Associates.

The survey covered 322 developments. Of these 219 were in the US, 58 in Canada and the rest split equally between the Caribbean and Mexico. Just a 125 of these developments were actively selling in 2009, most of the rest were older sold out projects.

The sales split across property types was:

The average sales volume in the 125 active projects was just $1.8m for fractional interest projects and $22.4 million for private residence clubs. Only 8% of these projects had sales over $10m while 43% had sales less than $1m..

Ragatz characterizes 2009 as a perfect storm for the shared ownership industry driven by:

• Economic uncertainty
• Lack of consumer financincing
• Lack of home equity funds
• Concerns with "conspicuous consumption"
• Lack of marketing funds
• A glut of lower priced whole ownership
• Lower priced luxury hotel rates

Despite all these lower sales the research notes the widely held feeling in the resort industry that shared ownership will rebound faster than whole ownership as the overall economy turns around. The reasons for buying fractional property hasn't changed and include: 1) personal use rather than speculation 2) ability to purchase just the amount of time you need 3) lowered household spending habits 4) the hassle free nature , so that owners just show up and enjoy 5) the flexibility and variety offered by exchange programs.