Northwest Territories Real Estate News

Real Estate in Canada's north is experiencing a bit of a crunch do to the energy boom. Some prime housing is sitting empty in Yellowknife, and local officials feel the government owned property could be put to better use. Northwest Territories Real Estate has been on the rise for the last three or four years do to an expanding resource sector.

As a housing crunch escalates in Yellowknife, questions are being raised about some government-owned houses that are sitting empty on prime real estate.

The five houses on 55th Street, which were used as federal government housing, are located close to schools and the downtown.

"You'd probably put it on the market, and probably that day or that evening … you'd probably have six, seven people putting in offers," real estate agent James Clarke told CBC News.

But the federal government has no plans to put them on the market any time soon, even though they've been sitting empty for years.

The houses are part of a large inventory of federal government housing that dates back to the 1960s and was used for RCMP officers and other employees.

In 2003, when they were declared surplus by the federal Public Works Department, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) purchased them as potential offerings in future aboriginal land claims negotiations. From CBC.ca
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