Economic Assessment of Timeshare Investment in Thermal Tourism and Evaluation of Real Estate Development and Management: The Case of Ankara Province in Turkey

The investments for the development of thermal timeshare facilities have started to grow rapidly. Timeshare property can be defined as a guaranteed, transferable and alternative right that allows its owner(s) to have a limited-term vacation, guarantees to spend at the same time and place every year, provides comfort and legally registered in the land registry. Timeshare properties are used only during a certain period of the year, leasing the remaining times to prevent the facilities from being idle, and this investment model allows a significant contribution to the local economy through the right holders. In this study, the development of timeshare investments in the field of thermal tourism has been examined in general, and in the second stage, interviews were conducted with the right holders and investors of timeshare investments in selected districts of Ankara Province. According to the Turkish Legal System ,the development and management of timeshare investment projects, the buildings and independent sections in the timeshare system must be residential properties, the beneficiary period of each property right holders should be not less than 15 days, the timeshare right can be transferred and left as a heritage to heirs, the facilities must be furnished with the annual maintenance-repair and other operating expenses equally shared, the facilities can be rented in case it cannot be used by the right holders, and the management of the facilities must be realized in accordance with the legal regulations regarding the condominium properties. The research results represent that in timeshare projects based on a condominium-principled ownership system; the total present value of the property price paid by the right owners for a certain use in the selected period of the year and the annual operating expenses are much higher than the present value of the annual rental prices, there is an option to have a holiday in comfortable conditions with the sum of the current value of the annual operating expenses and the cost of the timeshare acquisition, and consequently, timeshare investments are not rational. In the districts where field studies were conducted, although the rental prices/fees and sales values of the real estate subject to timeshare properties are 2-3 times higher than the equivalent properties in the district centre, it has been determined that the attraction of timeshare investments is low for the right holders. It should be emphasized that timeshare facilities need to be analyzed together with both timeshare investor and project developer, and that project development, appraisals, financing, construction, facility and property management services are carried out under the responsibility of real estate development and management experts to increase the project and investment success.