By Zoocasa on April 21, 2023
Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

Where to Buy Real Estate in Canada 2023: Halifax Regional Municipality

By Zoocasa on April 21, 2023
Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

As market competition slowly returns to Halifax, properties that are fairly priced are moving quickly. These are neighbourhoods offering buyers the best value.

View of Halifax, N.S. Photo by Tony Webster from Wikimedia Commons

What’s included on this page

Best places to buy real estate in Halifax Regional Municipality
How to read the table
What’s happened in the Halifax real estate market?
What’s next for real estate in Halifax?
Halifax Regional Municipality’s top three neighbourhoods

Methodology

Best places to buy real estate in Halifax

In the table below, you’ll find the top Halifax neighbourhoods for real estate purchases. To view all the data, slide the columns right or left using your fingers or mouse. You can download the data to your device in Excel, CSV and PDF formats.

wdt_ID	Rank	Neighbourhood	City	Benchmark price 2022	1-year growth	3-year	5-year	Value	Economics	Accessibility	Children
1	1	Cole Harbour	Halifax	$449,061	27%	65%	67%	4.5	4.3	0.6	47%
2	2	Preston Lawrencetown Chezzetcook	Halifax	$511,567	35%	75%	98%	5.0	3.6	0.5	42%
3	3	Waverly-Fall River-Beaver Bank	Halifax	$620,440	32%	60%	78%	3.8	4.7	0.1	48%
4	4	Timberlea Prospect	Halifax	$574,098	31%	75%	93%	4.5	3.9	0.0	47%
5	5	Spryfield Herring Cove	Halifax	$612,269	31%	80%	114%	4.6	3.7	0.0	41%
6	6	Woodside Eastern Passage	Halifax	$368,032	29%	55%	73%	4.8	3.2	0.4	45%
7	7	Hammonds Plains St. Margarets	Halifax	$711,251	23%	55%	90%	3.0	5.0	0.0	47%
8	8	Middle & Upper Sackville-Lucasville	Halifax	$509,364	30%	65%	90%	4.5	3.4	0.6	48%
9	9	Portland-East Woodlawn	Halifax	$443,460	22%	51%	54%	3.9	3.3	0.7	40%
10	10	Bedford	Halifax	$715,391	21%	61%	87%	3.0	4.1	0.1	42%
11	11	Lower Sackville	Halifax	$411,186	32%	54%	66%	4.6	2.5	0.4	42%
12	12	East Dartmouth-The Lakes	Halifax	$462,127	15%	56%	60%	3.7	3.0	0.8	41%
13	13	Eastern Shore Musquodoboit Valley	Halifax	$346,996	11%	56%	77%	4.3	2.3	0.1	30%
14	14	Fairview Clayton Park	Halifax	$513,981	22%	61%	74%	3.9	2.1	0.7	29%
15	15	Purcell’s Cove-Armdale	Halifax	$593,623	25%	59%	59%	3.5	2.5	1.5	34%
16	16	Clayton Park West	Halifax	$486,434	26%	57%	63%	4.0	0.8	0.1	29%
17	17	Albro Lake Harbourview	Halifax	$535,214	35%	75%	88%	4.8	0.0	3.4	24%
18	18	Connaught-Quinpool	Halifax	$792,888	30%	59%	83%	2.8	1.9	3.2	27%
19	19	Dartmouth Centre	Halifax	$511,428	13%	49%	57%	3.2	1.3	3.3	25%
20	20	Rockingham-Wentworth	Halifax	$650,713	25%	48%	61%	3.0	1.1	1.7	30%
21	21	Halifax North End	Halifax	$547,964	-10%	47%	70%	2.2	1.0	5.0	19%
22	22	Halifax Downtown	Halifax	$717,089	9%	45%	54%	1.8	0.7	0.1	8%
23	23	Northwest Arm-South End	Halifax	$1,033,843	14%	36%	28%	0.0	2.2	4.3	17%

Source: Zoocasa

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How to read the table:

Benchmark price 2022: The composite benchmark price as of Dec. 31, 2022. It represents all property types, including attached and detached homes, townhouses/row units and apartment units.
1-year, 3-year and 5-year growth: The percentage increase or decrease in the composite benchmark price (all property types) over each time frame.
Value, economics and accessibility: These neighbourhood characteristics are each scored on a scale of 0 to 5, with 5 representing the most value for your money, high levels of income and education, and ease of travel by foot, bike and public transit.
Children: The neighbourhood’s percentage of households with kids.
Read the detailed methodology behind our rankings.

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What’s happened in the Halifax real estate market?

The average home price in Halifax reached a peak of $603,386 in April 2022. By the end of the year, the average price had fallen to $474,389, marking a decline of more than 21% over eight months. High prices in early 2022 can be attributed to real estate market competition, with the area following trends of record-high prices and historically low inventory as seen across Canada.

“In the first half of 2022, Halifax experienced the hottest market it’s had, but it was a tough market to navigate due to low inventory levels,” explains local eXp Realty agent Richard Payne. (Zoocasa, the author of this study, is wholly owned by eXp World Holdings.) “Most properties were receiving multiple offers, and many sold well over asking. By the second half of the year, interest rate hikes took effect and the market slowed.”

Squeezed by high interest rates, many prospective buyers found themselves working with budgets in the range of $400,000 to $500,000. A few months prior, when interest rates were lower, they would have been able to afford a $600,000 home.

“Prices did come down but haven’t dropped to pre-pandemic figures,” Payne says, “and I don’t expect that will happen.”

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What’s next for real estate in Halifax?

The average home price in Halifax jumped slightly at the start of 2023, reaching $536,744 in January (up around 13% from December 2022). Market competition is growing, but it’s not quite at the levels seen at the start of 2022. Supply is still quite low, so when an affordable, fairly priced property comes onto the market, buyers are quick to snap it up.

“The number of days a property spends on the market have increased since the middle of last year; however, inventory is still quite tight,” says Payne. “Until there is more supply to choose from, existing home owners won’t sell their properties. When a great house is listed at fair market value, it is moving quickly in today’s market. We’re beginning to see some multiple offers again, but nowhere near early 2022 levels.”

The cost of borrowing has impacted affordability and reduced the motivation of many buyers, which explains why a lot of homes are spending longer on the market. “Today, buyers are still weary,” Payne says. “Interest rates have constrained affordability, and many feel nervous about having to determine if a house is really worth what the monthly payments will work out to.” (Try the MoneySense Mortgage Payment Calculator.)

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Top neighbourhoods in other regions

Halifax’s top three neighbourhoods

1. Cole Harbour

For the second year in a row, Cole Harbour emerged as one of the best neighbourhoods in Halifax to buy real estate on our annual list. Sitting east of Dartmouth, Cole Harbour is conveniently located near a number of schools, highways and nature trails. At the end of 2022, homes sold for an average price of $449,061, 27% higher than one year earlier and 67% higher than five years earlier. That equates to a strong value score of 4.5. On neighbourhood economics, it also scores well, at 4.3. You’ll likely need a car to get around, though, hence the low accessibility score of 0.6.

View Cole Harbour real estate listings on Zoocasa.

2. Preston-Lawrencetown-Chezzetcook

Located on the eastern shore of Halifax, Preston-Lawrencetown-Chezzetcook offers residents great value, and it has experienced some of the strongest home price growth in all of Halifax. Homes sold for an average price of $511,567 at the end of 2022, up 35% compared to one year earlier and 98% compared to five years earlier. That earned the area a perfect value score of 5. It’s also popular with families, as 42% of households have children. Preston-Lawrencetown-Chezzetcook is a suburb, so its low accessibility score of 0.5 is not surprising.

View Preston-Lawrencetown-Chezzetcook real estate listings on Zoocasa.

3. Waverly-Fall River-Beaver Bank

The suburban communities of Waverly-Fall River-Beaver Bank are located in northeast Halifax, boasting numerous schools, recreational facilities and beautiful lakes. The average selling price of a home at the end of 2022 was $620,440. That high cost is the result of steady price growth in the last several years. The average price was 32% higher than one year earlier and 78% higher than five years earlier, resulting in a value score of 3.8. The neighbourhood scores an impressive 4.7 on economics, and it has one of the highest concentrations of households with children, at 48%. The area’s one downside is that it has a low accessibility score of 0.1.

View Waverly-Fall River-Beaver Bank real estate listings on Zoocasa.

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