The success story that is vacation ownership continues to produce new chapters. Sales for the segment rose nine percent last year to $8.6 billion, according to a new study produced by Ernst & Young for the ARDA International Foundation. The study also showed increases in the number of new owners, unit prices and occupancy rates.

Some highlights of the study:

• As of January 2006, 1,604 timeshare resorts were operating in the U.S., while 4.1 million households owned one or more weekly intervals or points equivalents. On average, there are 26.5 owners per timeshare unit.

• More than 22,000 units opened last year for a total industry census of 154,439 units, or an average of 96 units per resort. The study forecasts that 23,578 units will be built this year, and developers say they have firm commitments to build an additional 43,950 units beyond this year.

• With 378 properties, Florida has three times as many timeshare resorts as any other state. The 10 states with the most resorts represent two-thirds of the industry total. The rest of the top five in number of resorts are California (123 properties), South Carolina (117), Hawaii (92) and Colorado (77).

• In ‘05, 882 resorts (55 percent of all properties) were in active sales. These resorts sold 529,031 units at an average price of $16,278, a three-percent increase.

• About a third of timeshare properties are in a seaside or ocean location. Regional resorts account for 14 percent of properties, following by golf resorts (10.2 percent), ski properties (9.3 percent), lake or river resorts (9.0 percent) and urban timeshares (6.0 percent).

• This year's study narrowed the definition of timeshare to focus on traditional one-week timeshares, removing products like non-equity clubs, private residence clubs and vacation clubs.