How Much Does a Timeshare Cost?

A timeshare costs an average of $23,160 up front, plus an annual maintenance fee that averaged $1,480 in 2024 and rises most years. The full cost also includes financing interest, occasional special assessments, and exchange or booking fees. Resale timeshares cost far less than the developer price.

What does a timeshare cost up front?

The up-front price is what you pay the developer to buy the timeshare, and the industry average is $23,160 average timeshare purchase price in 2024. That figure is just the entry ticket. A large share of the developer price covers the sales and marketing behind the presentation rather than the real estate itself, which is one reason the same interest is worth far less the moment you try to resell it. Most buyers also finance the purchase, which adds interest on top of the sticker price.

Developer price versus resale price

Where you buy changes the timeshare cost dramatically. Buying directly from the developer is the most expensive route. The same week or points package bought on the resale market commonly sells for a resale price that is usually a small fraction of what the original buyer paid, and sometimes only a few dollars. The catch is that resale strips away the developer perks and incentives, and the annual fees stay the same, so a low resale price is not automatically a bargain. Our guide to getting out of a timeshare explains why resale prices sit so low.

The full timeshare cost: every fee in the stack

The purchase price is only the first layer. The full timeshare cost is a stack of charges, some yearly and some occasional:

• Purchase price. Paid once to the developer, and often financed.
• Annual maintenance fee. Billed every year for as long as you own the timeshare.
• Special assessments. Occasional extra charges for major repairs or upgrades.
• Financing interest. Added when the purchase is paid over time.
• Exchange and membership fees. Charged if you trade your time through a network such as RCI or Interval International.
• Closing and transfer costs. Paid at purchase and again if you ever sell.

Annual maintenance fees

The maintenance fee is the part of the timeshare cost that surprises owners most, because it never stops and it keeps climbing. The average was $1,480 average annual maintenance fee in 2024, up 17.5% in one year. You owe it every year whether or not you use the resort, and it can rise faster than inflation. Because this fee drives the true long-term cost, we cover it in depth in our guide to timeshare maintenance fees. Whether those fees will keep climbing, and by how much, is the focus of our guide to whether timeshare maintenance fees will increase.

What are special assessments?

A special assessment is a one-time charge on top of your regular maintenance fee, levied when the resort needs money the reserve fund does not cover, such as a roof replacement, a renovation, or repairs after a major storm. The amount varies widely and is hard to predict, ranging from a modest sum to several thousand dollars in a difficult year. Because hurricane-exposed resorts assess more often, location affects how likely you are to face one.

Financing and interest

If you do not pay cash, the developer will usually offer to finance the purchase, and that financing is expensive. Developer loans frequently carry double-digit annual interest, well above a typical home mortgage, because they are unsecured consumer loans rather than real-estate mortgages. Financed over several years, the interest can add thousands of dollars to the timeshare cost. Paying cash, or using a lower-rate loan from your own bank, avoids the steepest part of that bill.

The real long-term cost of a timeshare

The honest way to judge a timeshare is to add the up-front price to decades of rising fees, not to look at the purchase price alone. At the current average maintenance fee, 20 years of ownership adds more than $29,600 in fees, before any increases, special assessments, financing interest, or exchange charges. Set against that total, the cost of simply booking hotels for the same trips is often lower, which is the comparison our guide on whether timeshares are worth it works through. Timeshares are a large, established product, with about 10 million U.S. households own a timeshare, in a market with $10.5 billion in 2024 sales, so the goal here is not to warn you off, only to make sure the number you compare is the real one.

Sources

American Resort Development Association, State of the Vacation Timeshare Industry, 2025 edition (2024 data), for the average purchase price, average annual maintenance fee, and market size. U.S. Federal Trade Commission, consumer guidance on timeshares and related scams (consumer.ftc.gov), reviewed June 2026, for resale value and financing cautions. Long-term fee total computed from the 2024 average maintenance fee; actual fees rise most years. Last reviewed June 18, 2026.