I received an interesting fact sheet on the Jackson Hole housing market from Jackson Hole Real Estate and Appraisal the other day in my P.O. box.

If you’re interested in owning a piece of paradise, get out your checkbook:

* Median home sale price as of July 1 2007: $1,175,000. 28% higher than 2006.

*Least expensive condo or town home anywhere in the valley:

$512,000 vs. $205,000 in July 2006.

For those of us already here, it’s easy to take the “not my problem” position and sit back and watch as home prices reach insane levels … and then, spend our down time figuring out which small Caribbean island we’re going to buy with the proceeds from the sale of our house.

But, the inability for newcomers to find affordable housing affects us all, from where we shop for groceries, to how it impacts the diversity of the community.

I’ve had the fortune of living in a number of mountain towns in various states from Montana to California, and have seen the character of some of those towns erased by McMansions and big-box-i-fication.

That will never happen in Jackson due to the fact that only three percent of Teton County is developable land.

And, I don’t think Wal-Mart has $100 per square foot retail space in their “best practices” manual.

The exclusive luxury playground of the rich and famous is a road that Jackson has been headed down for awhile.

There are also solutions, which I’m not expert enough to provide, but know that the town council and county commission have at the top of their agendas.

The spirit of the dirt bag is hard to extinguish, and even with unattainable housing prices, thankfully the committed still find a way