Park City, Utah - Jean-Georges Vongerichten may have a toehold on the Park City dining scene at the St. Regis, but most of the new culinary firepower in this town is homegrown. Park City-based restaurateur Bill White operates seven restaurants in town, including local favorites Wahso and Windy Ridge Café. Over the last three years, the chef's protégés have gone on to open the recent crop of critical darlings: Talisker on Main, the Farm at Canyons, Slopes by Talisker and Apex at Montage Deer Valley (which has a beekeeper on staff and serves a beer brewed from high-altitude hops). Fans of top-notch domestic spirits rave about , known for its killer rye whiskey.

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The Salt Lake Tribune reports that for all of Utah real estate, housing continues to rise.  Home sales are up 12% in October from the same month last year, and median house prices are up 5%.  Inventory is also reported to be at its lowest level since 2007.

While the holiday season in the Wasatch Front traditionally has represented a bit of a slower market than the rest of the year, many Realtors are reporting being as busy as ever.  And in the Wasatch Back, Park City real estate is beginning to go full swing with all three ski resorts being open, Deer Valley being the last to open last weekend.

Home sales, prices stay on the rise in Utah - Salt Lake Tribune, Friday December 7th, 2012...  more»

BY NICK TIMIRAOS Sales of Previously Owned Homes Rose in October; Supply of Properties Shrinks Sales of previously owned homes were stronger than expected in October, putting them on track to hit their highest annual level since 2007.Existing homes sold at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.79 million units in October, the second-highest level of the year and up 2.1% from September, the National Association of Realtors said Monday. October's level represented a 10.9% gain from a year earlier and was the 16th consecutive month of year-over-year home-sales gains.Prices are rising amid sharp declines in the number of homes listed for sale. Just 2.14 million homes were for sale at the end of October, down 22% from one year ago to the lowest level in a decade, according to NAR estimates.With more buyers chasing dwindling inventories of homes—and, in particular, fewer foreclosed properties that sell at steeper discounts—prices are beginning to rise in more markets. The national median home price rose by 11.1% from one year ago in October to $178,600, according to the NAR."We are clearly in recovery," said John Burns, chief executive of John Burns Real Estate Consulting in Irvine, Calif. View Interactive At October's sales pace, there were just 5.4 months of supply. That was the lowest level since February 2006, which was before housing markets ...  more»