"Park City Is Off The Charts"

That's the lede of a story in Salt Lake City's Deseret News. The numbers are eye-popping indeed.

"The resort town now basking in the spotlight of Sundance has proved to be an attraction of its own, with homebuyers surging in record numbers and new construction rising 60 percent in 2004," the paper said.

"What used to be a vacant lot where you could park or plow snow is now a driveway," town planner Patrick Putt told reporter Erin Stewart. "What was unique about last year was the numbers came from every sector of town."

It was Park City's best real estate year ever, with $1.2 billion in real estate sales in 2004 and home prices creeping higher, said spokesman Myles Rademan. "Everything that's selling for under $300,000 is being grabbed up like peanuts. That's the low end of the market now," he said.

Michael Sloan, statistician for the Park City Board of Realtors, said sale prices are up about 20 percent over last year and will continue to climb as available land becomes scarce. Even now, Sloan said, available properties have been cut in half from previous levels.