Cities are increasingly popular locations for private residence club developers to roll out shared ownership properties for buyers seeking a slice of a pied-à-terre, but these concrete jungles have also attracted big interest from destination clubs, who report that urban locations rank among their most popular club homes. Earlier this year, Exclusive Resorts picked up 12 residences at the Fairmont Heritage Place at Ghiradhelli Square in San Francisco, a buy that follows its acquisition of 16 residences at the Mandarin-Oriental in Chicago. In fact, such urban locations, including Las Vegas, accounted for 63 percent of the residences that Exclusive Resorts went into contract to add to their portfolio last year.

In our recent survey of top destination club locations, New York ranked as the most popular urban location for club-owned homes, with each of the big players including Private Escapes, Ultimate Resort, Quintess, Lusso Collection, High Country Club and of course, Exclusive Resorts owning a Big Apple property. Whole ownership in Manhattan is not only notoriously expensive – the average sales price of an apartment topped $1.7 million in the first three months of this year according to Miller Samuel, a New York residential real estate appraisal company – but sometimes difficult for part-time residents who are often rebuffed by building co-op boards who don’t want pied-à-terre owners.

Paris and London rank as the next most popular locations, both with 13 homes, though Paris has a larger diversity of clubs; Chicago and San Francisco get high placement primarily because of the buying power of Exclusive Resorts. The one downside to these big city homes? They tend to be among the smallest destination club properties. For instance, one- and two-bedroom residences have proliferated in New York, where space is at a premium. That can make a trip with several couples or extended family a tight squeeze, but then again you might not even notice those relatively cramped quarters. After all, who goes to New York to stay inside?