Margaret Carroll has been a realtor in the town since 1998 and says she\u2019s never seen the rental market like it is today.<\/p>\n
\u201c[Since] the announcement of the closure of West Fraser, I’ve had vacancies \u2014 and right at this moment, I have about 24 vacancies which I never ever, ever have,\u201d Carroll said, explaining that she oversees around 200 different rentals currently.<\/p>\n
Carroll is confident that she will fill those vacancies in due time. She has been getting some inquiries, but says she requires tenants to have a source of income, no pets and no indoor smoking to qualify.<\/p>\n
The town of more than 4,000 residents is located about 740 kilometres northwest of Edmonton.<\/p>\n
Trying to make a sale<\/p>\n
The number of homes currently for sale is also higher than in recent years. There has been a 30 per cent increase in active listings between July 2025 and 2026, according to Carroll.<\/p>\n
She said several of the listing owners have already vacated their homes and moved on.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost of them are people that have left because of their job, you know, so that’s disheartening,\u201d Carroll said. \u201cBut this too shall pass.\u201d<\/p>\n
With home prices averaging between $250,000 and $350,000, selling higher-end homes is proving difficult.<\/p>\n
Gerald Hexspoor has learned that first hand. He and his wife listed their 2,000-square-foot home two years ago with dreams of retiring in the town of Wembley, Alta. \u2014 about 470 kilometres to the south \u2014 to live closer to family.<\/p>\n
It still hasn\u2019t sold.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Originally listed for around $600,000, Hexspoor signed papers on July 13 to drop the price to $499,500.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t get frustrated because unfortunately, you know, the real estate market is what it is because of the economy,\u201d Hexspoor said.<\/p>\n
Hexspoor moved to High Level in 1987, and said if he was selling his house in that era he thinks the home would\u2019ve been easier to sell.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen places like Edmonton, let’s say, were in a kind of a recession, we were booming up here. I mean it was crazy, you couldn\u2019t get hotel rooms, restaurants were all full,\u201dHexspoor said. \u201cOver the years a lot of that has changed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Clark McAskile moved to town a year earlier than Hexspoor, living through those times and spending two stints as chief administrative officer for the Town of High Level.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHigh Level\u2019s gone through transitions in the resource sector, we\u2019ve had mill shutdowns before\u2026 It exists because of its resources but it doesn\u2019t rely on the resources. It\u2019s a service centre,\u201d McAskile said, noting that there will always be jobs in industries like education and health care.<\/p>\n
WATCH | West Fraser mill closure causes job loss in High Level, Alta:![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1784473449_222_default.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
West Fraser Mill closure in High Level, Alberta means 190 jobs lost<\/p>\n
West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. ceased production at its OSB Mill in High Level, Alberta this week. Eagle Andersen has more.<\/p>\n
With trees rooted in the forests and oil remaining underground, McAskile says there\u2019s also the ever-present opportunity for another resource boom period in the region that would give local real estate a boost.<\/p>\n
He and his wife were able to sell their home and relocate to Vulcan, Alta. \u2014 about 1,150 kilometres to the southeast \u2014 in 2025 to be closer to her mother following their retirements.<\/p>\n
McAskile\u2019s daughter, who moved to Drumheller, Alta., for work, hasn\u2019t been as lucky.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She listed her house this January, and despite numerous viewings, she hasn\u2019t found a buyer yet for her three-bedroom house that sits in the centre of town.<\/p>\n
The vacant home is currently listed at $269,900 and McAskile says they are confident it will eventually sell due to the comparably lower price tag.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201c[She] is renting a place someplace else, and paying a mortgage in a different place. So you\u2019ve got that double hitch when it comes to the expenses,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
High Level will never die- Margaret Carroll<\/p>\n
Despite the challenges, McAskile\u2019s optimism about a potential sale is echoed by Carroll. She anticipates more movement in the market in mid-to-late August as new families may be looking for housing prior to the start of the school year.<\/p>\n
\u201cHigh Level will never die. So I\u2019m confident that these will get filled up and sold,\u201d Carroll said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dozens of homes are sitting empty in the town of High Level, Alta., as residents relocate, often without…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":812333,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194294],"tags":[49,48,23752],"class_list":["post-812332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-edmonton","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-edmonton"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/812332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=812332"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/812332\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/812333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=812332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=812332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=812332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}