For sale sign for Royal LePage PVR Realty Inc.

Richard Froese
South Peace News
Local realtors predict a rise in population and housing sales when Tolko Industries restarts its High Prairie plant.

“When Tolko re-opens, I would expect to see substantial increase in housing sales,” says Gord Olson, realtor-owner with Century 21 Sunnyside Realty.

Closed in 2008, Tolko plans to re-open its oriented strand board (OSB) plant west of town, and projects it would employ about 300 people with direct and indirect jobs.

“When Tolko initially opened (in 1995), it created an upstart in housing sales, and we could expect that same thing to happen,” Olson says.

He also projects that the re-opening of Tolko would not only double sales, but also increase local housing prices.

Tolko officials updated community leaders on Jan. 20 that the company remains committed to High Prairie, although no dates to re-open have been confirmed.

Sales were sluggish last year for both Sunnyside Realty and Royal LePage PVR Realty Inc. as the downturn in the provincial economy slowly rebounds.

Opening of the new High Prairie Health Complex could also revive the real estate market.

“We are very optimistic for 2017 as there seems to be a more positive air and attitude in the town with the scheduled opening of the hospital and Tolko,” says Debbie Nelson, broker-owner for Royal LePage.

Combined figures for the two real estate companies show that 28 homes were sold last year, down from 51 in 2015 and 66 in 2014.

Nelson notes that half of the sales in 2015 were for trade workers constructing the new hospital.

High Prairie is also getting a lot of attention from investors, she says.

“We also seem to be seeing more interest in the town from entrepreneurs in the last few weeks interested in possible development,” Nelson says.
“I don’t believe we will see a boom, but at least there is greater potential for a steadier market, which is longer lasting.”

Real estate appears to be stronger in the High Prairie than in other northern parts of the province, she says.

“The 2016 market was somewhat repressed but we noticed that after conversing with realtors in other northern towns that we were in fact not as slow as they were,” Nelson says.

Realtors credit that to the diverse region, which does not solely rely on the gas and oil industry to uphold the economy.

“Although the market was quieter, we still stayed on an even keel with sporadic sales,” Nelson says.
“The economic conditions were definitely a detriment to sales with the multitude of job losses and cutbacks.”

The economic boost would spur the trends of similar results the past two years.

“Last year was an anomaly for our office,” Olson says.
“Our busy time is usually from spring through summer, and it wasn’t the case.
“We usually have a lull in summer, but last summer was busy.”

He has no reason for that trend.

For sale sign for Century 21 Sunnyside Realty.