State Senator Cyr: Towns Should Take Action On Fractional Home Ownership

HYANNIS – Towns on Cape Cod and the Islands are scrambling to regulate a new real estate model.

It’s called fractional home ownership, which is different from a timeshare or a short-term rental. Companies sell partial ownership shares of a vacation home, allowing co-owners to build equity.

The most well-known entity, Pacaso, has made purchases in Chatham and Nantucket, according to Cape and Islands State Senator Julian Cyr. He says municipalities across the region are concerned with the emergence, and several including Provincetown and Tisbury have taken action to update their timeshare bylaws. Nantucket has the issue on its upcoming town meeting warrant after Cyr says Pacaso challenged the town’s designation.

“Cape Codders and Islanders who are struggling to make a life year-round in the region, in this housing market, are already up against quite a number of forces where they can’t compete against second, third, fourth homeowners in what is increasingly a luxury real estate market, and fractional ownership is sort of one more threat to year-round home ownership,” says Cyr. “And so, it’s really incumbent on Cape Cod and Island towns to take action to get ahead of this and rein this in.”

On Beacon Hill, Cyr notes that Governor Maura Healey filed a $4.1 billion affordable homes bill to invest in housing production across Massachusetts, and that fractional home ownership could get put under the microscope as a result.