ANNE ARUNDEL County's real estate market apparently takes its motto from the Longfellow poem: "Excelsior" (ever upward).

The median price of a county home -- a better measure than the average price, which can be skewed by clusters of high- or low-priced sales -- reached $325,000 last month. That's more than $25,000 over the previous month and $69,000 higher than a year ago.

That gives Anne Arundel the fourth-highest median home price in the region, trailing only Montgomery, Queen Anne's and Howard counties. It's grand news for current homeowners, bankers and those making a living off the thriving real estate market. It's an indication that Anne Arundel has a strong economy and is a highly desirable place to live.

But middle-income people trying to become homeowners in Anne Arundel can be forgiven for skipping the celebration.

Our story last week tried to crunch some of the numbers. Essentially, you need an income of $55,000 to $75,000 to support the sort of mortgage rates county residents are likely to encounter. The median salary for teachers is $48,522.

So it's no surprise that the teachers' union has formed a partnership with Coldwell Banker to provide assistance to renters and, if possible, help them to become homeowners. And it's no surprise that, as noted earlier in this space, County Executive Janet Owens is pushing a $50 million plan to help county employees and others cope with the high cost of housing.

If you're a small-government purist, you might think that local government should get its nose out of the housing market and let these folks commute.

But government is already involved. Its land-use regulations, intended to curb sprawl and protect the environment, have helped make housing scarcer and drive up prices. Those higher prices, in turn, have helped swell county government's revenue. So why not have government step in to allow at least some of our teachers, police and firefighters to live here?

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