CAPRICE From babe to businesswoman - Mayfair Times

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property
A slice of luxury
The media has been full of coverage on the decline
of the property market recently. Recent figures from
the Rightmove House Price Index show that average
prices rose by only 2.2 per cent in the last year. But a
closer look at the figures shows canny investors that
the map of the UK is divided into areas on the up and
those on the down. Prices went up by 5 per cent in
London and the star performer was the City of
Westminster where the average price jumped to
£1,030,435 and recorded a massive 26.4 per cent
increase in only one year.
With price increases like these, there is a lot of
demand for property in Mayfair. One growing option for
buyers is a fractional ownership scheme. Fraction
International Ltd., which is based in Berkeley Street,
has announced it is on the lookout for high-end
properties priced around £1 million to £3 million to
offer as part of fractional schemes.
“We have clients looking to purchase a deeded
interest within a London property, while only wanting to
occupy it for a limited amount of time each year,” says
Toby Pocock, the company’s managing director
“Naturally, we are looking in the areas which typify
London’s splendour. Mayfair will be ideal.”
Fractional ownership, shared ownership or
residence clubs are big business and, while these are
not concepts widely known in the UK, the sector is the
fastest growing segment of the luxury property market,
according to DCP International. The Bruton Streetbased
company that pioneered the residence club
concept in Utah in the US says that the luxury shared
ownership concept has grown into a $2.1 billion
industry and the company has residence clubs based
in some of the world’s most exclusive destinations,
from Cabo San Lucas and Aspen to Manhattan and
Florence.
Peter Kempf, CEO Europe of DCP International, is
keen to point out that this form of shared ownership is
not timeshare. “Unlike timeshare or destination clubs,
residence club owners own in perpetuity and their
ownership can be sold or willed like any other form of
real estate,” he says.
“The concept has taken a very strong hold on
the market in London. There is a much greater
awareness of the difference between timeshare and
fractional ownership.”
In essence, instead of buying a luxury property
outright, a buyer buys and owns maybe a quarter or a
tenth of it. The fractional owner can use the property
for a set period of time each year, and can resell it.
DCP residence clubs have generated more than
$700 million in sales and the company is actively
marketing or has in development more than $2 billion
worth of projects all over the world.
“We are seeing a lot of hotel operators entering the
industry and almost all new developments incorporate
a fractional or private residents club element into the
offering,” says Kempf. The typical buyer of one of
these schemes is at the very high end of the
demographic spectrum, is usually aged 40-60, and is
a high net worth individual who has the ability to spend
a million or two or three on a second home but thinks
they can’t justify the purchase as they won’t be able to
maintain or use the property enough.
However, fractional ownerships are not just being
offered to British buyers looking to get a piece of a
faraway paradise – foreign buyers are snapping up
fractional ownership schemes in London, and Mayfair
has led the trend. 47 Park Street is Europe’s first
inner-city fractional ownership property and offers
fractional membership of a one or two-bedroom
residence with all the comforts of a world-class, five-
BUYING A SHARE IN A
LUXURY PROPERTY
GIVES VISITORS A
TASTE OF A HOME
FROM HOME.
SHANE MCGINLEY
REPORTS
“The staff are like
family to me”
Richard Peck on
47 Park Street
LEFT: RICHARD PECK AND 47 PARK STREET (ABOVE)
OPPOSITE:THE PALAZZO TORNABUONI IN FLORENCE IS OFFERED AS
PART OF A PRIVATE RESIDENCE CLUB SCHEME BY DCP INTERNATIONAL
star hotel from £109,000 for at least 21 nights per
year until 2050.
“The fractional ownership concept allows 47 Park
Street members to own a flat in Mayfair – to be used
at their convenience – while sharing the costs of
maintenance and ownership with other members,”
says Christian Broby, regional project director for
Northern Europe.
Each of the 49 residences is an individual
apartment, yet the entire property is run like a five-star
hotel. When worked out over the time frame of the
membership, the concept is much cheaper for regular
London visitors than staying in a hotel each time.
Many fractional schemes offer additional bonuses
for members. For example, members at 47 Park
Street get premium access to the Royal Opera
House, complementary treatments and preferred
pricing at Spa Illuminata, access to Pasley-Tyler’s 42
Berkeley Square and the London Golf Club and a 25
per cent dining discount at the London Marriott
Hotel Park Lane and London Marriott Hotel
Grosvenor Square.
Richard Peck, a prominent American author, has
bought into the scheme and considers Mayfair his
second home. Raised in Illinois in the American
Midwest, Peck has written a number of awardwinning
books for young adults. Travelling all over
the world as a guest speaker, he does not enjoy
staying in endless hotel rooms and, while he
previously used to rent flats in London, he found the
experience rather stressful.
“When I saw an advertisement using the words
fractional and London in the same sentence I was
inflamed,” says Peck. He particularly enjoys the
familiarity of using the same venue and the same bed.
“The staff are like family to me,” he says. He enjoys
the fact that he can leave a number of “nesting” items,
such as photos, hair brushes and other personal
possessions with the staff and can pick them up again
each time he returns. As well as the familiarity of the
staff, Peck also likes the fact that you can get to know
other owners: he has met a number of American
guests at Park Street through attending their bi-weekly
cocktail evenings.
Fraction International Ltd.
www.fractioninternational.com
47 Park Street: www.47parkstreet.com
DCP International: www.destinationclub.com