DVC and the recession

[RDP]

Does anybody know how sales of DVC have been going during the recession??

 

[mlayton14]

People can point out anecdotal evidence here and there .. but the true picture can be illustrated with the $19 incentive off of the per-point retail prices and decline of 10-20% in resale prices from 2 or so years ago. Businesses and sellers in general do not discount unless they need to!

If you are a Disney fanatic .. its a great time to buy (esp. resale) if you are in a financial position to do so.

 

[starbox]

I would not have purchased DVC if I could have gotten 7 days for the price of three and/or free dining.

One thing that weighed on our minds when we were waffling back and forward about buying DVC was whether or not we could afford the additional costs of vacationing at Disney (meals, tickets, etc) on top of DVC costs. AT the time, DVC did not offer the DDP - and we had young kids and the early DDP versions were a phenomenal deal (tip and appetizer included). Just not being able to get the DDP with DVC kept us from feeling like DVC would be a good enough deal to justify the expense.

I can't imagine even considering such a big purchase while Disney is holding fire sales to get people in the park w/ regular CRO deals.

 

[bwvBound]

The link below may give some ideas? It shows the number of DVC deeds recorded in Orange County, FL each month since Jan 2006. Of course, it is simply "# of deeds" and does not reflect the size of each contract.

http://dvcnews.com/index.php/dvc-program/financial/dvc-sales-statistics

 

[ToddyLu]

DVCnews.com has a chart that shows the monthly sales at their website. I enjoy looking at it now and then. Up until this year we have only done value trips and the one modest resort trip we got was a gift from my MIL after DH built both our houses back after Katrina. Everyone has an opinion about how they spend their money and ultimately you have to make that decision. After throwing all of our home contents on the curb, our perspective has changed. We bought 210 points in June at AKV.

 

[DisneyWalker44]

Best thing we can tell from all the evidence is that sales are down a bit, but haven't fallen off a cliff.

Couple comments on earlier posts...

1) You have to put any $-off discount in context of recent price increases. Disney has jacked up prices, then put discounts off those prices.

2) I believe - but don't know - that the bump we are seeing on the dvcnews chart is due to a backlog of VGC sales hitting all at once.

 

[tjkraz]

Overall I think sales are probably flat compared to 2008. Early in the year DVC struggled with prices that were too high and consumer worry over the economy. While US unemployment hasn't really improved, it seems like the large number who remain gainfully employed are no longer living in constant fear of being laid-off.

By all measures Grand Californian sales appear to be far beneath why DVC expected. That property has the largest incentives and sales are still limping along. But BLT incentives keep getting smaller and the resort is selling like gangbusters.

Sales prices are pretty similar to '08. Throughout most of '08 AKV was running at $96 per point. A referral would often net the buyer a $500 gift card. The most recent '09 pricing at AKV was $99 per point or $93 with a referral.

BLT started off at $107 per point and then went down in the following months. Now it's back to $107 (with a referral bonus) and the base price is set to go up to $120 soon.

2) I believe - but don't know - that the bump we are seeing on the dvcnews chart is due to a backlog of VGC sales hitting all at once.

The VGC catch-up was in June. There were something like 500-700 VGC contracts posted in 6/09. July numbers only included one month's worth of VGC sales.

 

[Dean]

The number of members reported on the BVTC audit for 2008 was a dramatically lower increase in the number of members than previous years.