What does a night in your own holiday home really cost?
Owning a 1/8 piece of a €1.5M home and using its 45 nights a year for 10 years works out at about €292 a night with our example figures, against €500 to rent something similar and €2,338 to own the whole home. Change any number to see yours.
Assumptions
Example figures: change them to your own. We can send the real running costs for any home you like.
Rent every year
€500
per night you stay
- Over 10 years
- €225,000
- Money tied up
- None
- Nights a year
- 45
A piece (1/8)
€292
per night you stay
- Over 10 years
- €131,518
- Money tied up
- €202,500
- Nights a year
- about 45
Buy the whole home
€2,338
per night you stay
- Over 10 years
- €1,052,145
- Money tied up
- €1,620,000
- Nights a year
- 45 of 365
At 45 nights a year, owning a piece works out at €292 a night: €208 a night less than renting and €2,046 less than owning the whole home for the same stays.
Per night = what you pay in (price, taxes, running costs, and what the money could have earned) minus what you get back when you sell, divided by the nights you stay.
Try it on a real home
Every home page has this calculator, already filled in with its own price and nights. Three homes near the example budget, from the 297 we list:
Playa d’en Bossa, Ibiza, Spain — 2-Bed Apartment With Sea Views
€189,000
Glowe, Rügen, Germany — 3-Bed Apartment With Garden
€189,000
Ciudad Jardin, Mallorca, Spain — 2-Bed Apartment With Pool
€189,000
Find the homes that fit you in 5 questions → See all 297 homes →
Questions buyers ask
Is it cheaper to rent or buy a holiday home?
It depends on how many nights you stay. Owning a whole home means paying for 365 nights to use perhaps 40, so per night it is usually the most expensive option. Owning a piece of the home splits the price and the running costs with the other owners, so you pay for roughly the nights you use. With the example figures above, a 1/8 piece of a €1.5M home works out at about €292 a night, against €500 to rent and €2,338 to own the whole home.
How many nights a year do I need to stay for co-owning to pay off?
With the example figures, a 1/8 piece costs less per night than renting from about 27 nights a year. A 1/8 piece gives about 45 nights, so most owners stay well past that point. Put in your own rental price and the calculator shows your own break-even.
What running costs does a co-owned holiday home have?
Management, insurance, cleaning between owners, upkeep and a repair reserve, shared between the owners in proportion to their piece. They differ from home to home, so the calculator uses an example percentage you can change. We send the real yearly figures for any home you are interested in.
Do I get my money back when I sell?
When you sell your piece you receive what a buyer pays for it at the time, less selling costs. The calculator assumes no change in value unless you set one, and it counts what your money could have earned elsewhere as a cost of owning, so the comparison with renting is fair.
For live share prices by country and region, see the Co-Ownership Price Index.