Montana Free Press: While the median home price in the city nears $500,000, officials believe a record number of housing permits last year is reason for hope.

The New York Times: A short-term rental gold rush is fueling concern for the area’s signature trees and debates about whether the nature of life in the desert of southeastern California is changing forever.

NPR: Builders for many years just weren't building enough to keep up with demand. That lack of supply has pushed home prices to record levels.

The New York Times: With lift tickets above $225 and surcharges of up to $100 to ride the tram to the top, the vast Montana resort is delivering a high-end experience. Is it a solution to skiing’s problems?

Montana Public Radio: For decades, housing affordability has been a hot-button issue in Bozeman politics, a clear community pain point where the city’s elected leaders haven’t managed to deliver significant relief. As insider and outsider candidates campaigned for city offices in 2021, housing policy became the election’s key issue.

San Francisco Chronicle: Data shows that Montana has surged in popularity.

Mountain Journal: Outdoor recreation in America is worth nearly $1 trillion annually but like any consumptive industry, it can make nature a casualty.

Each year Prospera Business Network develops the Economic Profile of Gallatin and Park Counties to share a look at the state of our regional economy in Southwest Montana. Our goal is to assemble the most up-to-date information on economic, population and demographic trends to help business leaders plan for the future.

Northwest Colorado Council of Governments: Are COVID Impacts on Housing & Services Here to Stay?

Daily Montanan: Residents of a coastal Oregon neighborhood in November 2021 successfully passed a ballot initiative that, over the next five years, will do away with short-term rentals in unincorporated communities.

Post Register: More people visit Island Park each year and more homeowners are turning their properties into short-term rentals.

The Wall Street Journal: Growing populations of towns in ‘wildland-urban interface’ is a key reason for rising wildfire threat in the West, researchers say.

GovOS: The popularity of short-term rentals shows no signs of slowing down, creating complex issues for local governments.

Mountain Journal: Maybe the only hope we have to stop our towns and wild places from changing is to change our belief that their destruction is inevitable. But, as Timothy Tate writes, it's almost impossible to do.

East Idaho News: Idaho’s picturesque views and endless supply of outdoor recreational opportunities have always attracted visitors — tourists and new residents alike. But the dynamic changed in the past decade, with the rise of third-party rental websites like Airbnb, VRBO and Vacasa.

Montana Free Press: As home prices soar and people move in, Flathead Valley residents are stymied by a dwindling supply of rental properties. For Kalispell’s Amber Hogan, that means pulling up roots and leaving Montana.

Montana Business Quarterly: The lack of affordable housing has been an increasingly difficult problem for many Montana communities. With relatively few affordable homes available for households earning a low income, and with much of the existing affordable inventory aging and in need of rehabilitation, many households earning a low income are being priced out of housing markets.

Mountain Journal: Robert Liberty is a nationally-respected expert on smart—and dumb—ways communities grow. The patterns of development outside of Yellowstone Park alarm him. But hope is not lost. Yet.

Bloomberg: Out-of-state buyers push western Montana home prices up 17%. Local Montanans face New York-Style Affordability Crunch.

Mountain Journal: What does it say about us when we have leaders who don't have the courage to act?