With vacation travel and Walt Disney World itself significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, one popular topic of discussion is how the resale value of Disney Vacation Club contracts has fared in recent months.
Villas at Disney's Grand Floridian Resort
Website dvc.market was created to track Disney Vacation Club resale activity compiled from deeds filed and recorded with the Orange County (FL) Comptroller. Data gathering began at the start of 2021. Three months of transactions now provide a view of how the post-pandemic DVC resale marketplace is evolving.
Data from private sale deeds transfers in March 2021 show resale median pricing is generally flat from February. Three resorts stand out from others, exhibiting an upward trend in resale transfer prices. The Villas at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa saw its median pricing rise from $169 per point in January to $176 in March. Disney’s Polynesian Villas & Bungalows is up from $140 to $150 over the same timeframe and Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas recovered from a modest dip in February to post a $3 gain over the 3-month span.
Median prices represent the midpoint of all transfer values for each resort and period in question. Transactions occurred at rates both higher and lower than the median, as illustrated in the chart below.
Resale prices for Disney’s Riviera Resort have fluctuated, but there is not enough activity to draw useful conclusions with only 13 total contracts sold in the first quarter of 2021.
In total, 90k points across 600 private sale deeds were recorded in March 2021 with the Orange County (FL) Comptroller.
Disney Vacation Development’s buyback activity in March suggests maximum prices have remained generally flat throughout the first three months of 2021 while activity has increased. There was a reduction in buybacks at Grand Floridian (14%, 48%, 4% of recorded points) potentially driven by the median price of private sales. Meanwhile, buybacks increased at Animal Kingdom (2%, 6%, 16%), Polynesian (0%, 8%, 28%), Disney’s BoardWalk Villas (0%, 5%, 13%) and Bay Lake Tower at Disney’s Contemporary Resort (25%, 45%, 53%). Buyback maximum prices have varied at these resorts but there does not appear to be a strong trend up or down.
Exercising its Right of First Refusal to buy back points can be a profitable venture for DVD. As the attached data illustrates, DVD is frequently able to reacquire points for under $100 each at resorts like Animal Kingdom and BoardWalk Villas. Disney then re-sells the points to new buyers, with published prices currently $186 each for Animal Kingdom and $210 for BoardWalk.
Disney’s Old Key West Resort continues to be a prime target of buybacks with DVD exercising its Right of First Refusal on the majority of recorded sales (63% of recorded points) for a maximum price of $102-103 USD per point. Overall, 31% of points (40k points across 193 buyback deeds) were recorded in Mar 2021. In the case of Old Key West, Disney is able to re-acquire contracts slated to end in 2042 and bundle them with the resort’s 15-year extension.
The price range data at the top also includes listing prices (green). Listing prices generally outpace prior sales but ultimately buyer interest will dictate market value.
Disney Vacation Development’s buyback activity currently outpaces sales for at least two resorts: Old Key West and Bay Lake Tower. In this three month period, DVD reacquired 14k points at Bay Lake Tower and nearly 30k at Old Key West. Sales at those two resorts totaled about 7k and 16k respectively over the same time period.
Additional resources including market data, pricing analysis, and a DVC listing search engine--featuring 10 well established brokers who specialize in Disney Vacation Club timeshare ownership transfers--are available by visiting dvc.market.
Chris Dantès is a contributor to DVCNews.com and has been a Disney Vacation Club owner since 2020 at Disney's Riviera Resort. You can find Chris posting on many Disney forums under the username i<3riviera.
