Things are fairly sedate at the south end of the county, around Yerington and in Smith Valley, where few subdivisions and fewer new homes are being built.

But Fernley, which became an incorporated city in 2001, is one of the region’s leading growth areas: its estimated 2004 population of 13,775 represents a 17.6 percent increase over the previous year.

The rule of thumb is that homebuyers pay about $30,000 less here than for a similar home in and around the Truckee Meadows.

The unincorporated towns of Silver Springs and Dayton also have seen accelerating growth in the new century.

“I recently heard that the growth rate of our area is around 15 percent per year,” said Vanessa Stuart, sales manager for Silver Springs manufactured-home seller The Champions and a 10-year community resident. “I’m almost prepared to believe that, it’s grown so tremendously.”

Meanwhile, Dayton is an area of housing contradictions, with an increasing number of subdivisions marching east along U.S. 50 and higher-end homes going up in the Dayton Valley to the southeast, especially around the Dayton Valley Country Club.