A condo in Cabo never looked so boring. Perched on the end of a man made, palm-shaped island in the Middle East, a new private residence club is rising. Touting itself as the first fractional development in Dubai, the Fairmont Heritage Place, Kingdom of Sheba is bringing a new breed of vacation ownership to the international scene.

And it’s only the beginning.

Fractional real estate developments are mainstays of tony ski towns and beach retreats, but increasingly developers are eyeing more exotic locales. Sure there are shared Paris flats, fractional homes overlooking the Tuscan countryside and even private residence club developments planned for Central America. But beyond those vacation destinations, fractional properties are popping up in areas even further a field. Banyan Tree Residence Club, for instance has several shared ownership options in Asia, including a one in Phuket, Thailand.

Fairmont Hotels and Resorts, through its Fairmont Heritage Place brand, is opening several international fractional properties over the next few years. In Dubai, a hot bed of real estate development and now home to the tallest building in the world, Fairmont along with IFA Hotels and Resorts is building a fractional residence club on the Palm Jumeirah, a man made desert island. Homes range from two-bedroom, 1,810 square foot apartments to 5,340 square foot, two-level villas with five bedrooms and private infinity pools. The 51 fractional ownership homes, being sold in 1/10th shares, just started going into contract this fall. Prices start at $165,000.

While such developments inevitably attract a slew of foreign buyers, Americans are also snapping up such properties, said Peter MacLeod, Fairmont’s Executive Director of Residential Development for Europe, Africa and the Middle East. “We have seen eight percent of sales going to Americans,” said MacLeod. The European market has taken up about a third of sales and buyers from Asia another third, while the local market has made up the bulk of the remaining owners.

In South Africa, the beachfront Fairmont Heritage Place, Zimbali is also in the works. The property launched about a month ago, said MacLeod and is selling 18 fractional ownership homes in 1/13th slices, starting at $110,000. Owners get four weeks of use a year, access to a beach club and a Willow Steam Spa. Each residence comes with a golf cart to get around the resort. The property will be ready in 2009 for move-in.

Fairmont has more plans for fractional developments in such off the beaten path resort areas and will announce several more developments by early next year. In the Middle East and Africa, said MacLeod, Fairmont “will have at least three more in the next six months.”