Wall Street Journal Feature on Timeshare Troubles

The Wall Street Journal recently (April 2012) aired a video about the difficulty of selling timeshares.

According to the WSJ, an estimated 50% of owners are behind on their payments.

A few notes from the video:

The average cost for maintenance fees is around $730 per year, which has been steadily increasing year to year. Travel is a luxury, and one that most people are not able to allocate a lot of time and money toward while in this ongoing recession. Timeshares simply do not make financial sense for many owners.

Over the past few years, many owners have begun to view getting rid of their timeshare as a way to save money (they’re not vacationing anyway), but the market for buyers is limited. Many are even having difficulty giving their timeshare away for free.

What is timeshare industry doing to prevent collapse?

Timeshares are changing their target market for timeshares. They are now focusing on high income earners who do not need financing.

It will be interesting to see how timeshares are performing 5 years from now. What are your predictions?