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Fractional Fairytale: The dream of owning a vacation home can come ...

In the last 10 years, buying a second home has become the epitome of the American dream. Homeownership may have marked entry into the promised land, but it was the vacation property that fueled the most ecstatic visions: wineries, beach houses, pieds-à-terre and mountain cabins. These were not places where people lived, worked and paid bills, but where life unfolded according to the seasons, with the ebb and flow of recreation, family reunions and private retreats.

As the real estate boom crested, the second-home market swelled as well, even helping to stem falling prices when the boom busted. In 2005, second-home sales rose more than twice as fast as all new single-family-home sales and nearly four times faster than all resale homes, according to the National Association of Realtors.

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Shoprite's basket fills up

Johannesburg - Shoprite Holdings on Tuesday reported a 26 percent increase in diluted headline earnings per share from 65.7 cents to 82.8 cents for the 26 weeks to the end of December 2006. The group's trading profit for the half-year was up 27.9 percent to R717.3 million, with turnover reflecting a 14.9 percent growth from R16.621 billion to R19.105 billion. Non-South African supermarkets achieved a 28 percent sales growth. The group's South African supermarket operation, which encompasses three chains - Shoprite, Checkers and Usave - grew turnover by 13.9 percent to R15.1 billion. The dividend per share proposed for the interim period reflects a 29.6 percent increase from 27 cents to 35 cents. Chief executive Whitey Basson said: "Management is satisfied with the growth achieved in the first six months of the 2007 financial year, especially as this was achieved despite 12 weeks of industrial action that affected, in particular, the operations of the Shoprite brand.