Northeast housing prices on upswing

A new report predicts northeastern Ontario will be the hottest real estate market in the province this year.

The forecast by Central One Credit Union predicts there will be 600 more houses sold in the region in 2013 a jump of almost 10 per cent.

Economist Bryan Yu said this is because of the numerous mining, hydro dam and other projects expected to ramp up in the region.

While these types of projects bring migrant workers, they also bring permanent spin-off jobs, he said.

"Expectations are that these projects are going to go for at least for a number of years, when you look at the number of projects on stream right now," Yu said.

"That helps to build local economic activity through the cycle."

'Stronger resource activity'

In the meantime, the report suggests housing sales in most southern Ontario markets will flat line for the next few years and rebound in 2015.

Meanwhile in the northeast, the report says the average sale price for a home is expected to climb by $30,000. In 2012 the average price was $210,000.

Yu said while the northeast does often see boom-bust real estate cycles, he predicted the region's economy will remain strong through 2015.

"Areas with strong resource extraction and also stronger resource activity tend to see larger gains in pricing because there's increased pressure on the available stock of housing," he noted.