Photo: Kiwibirdman · CC BY 3.0For every 1,000 homes, Highlands permitted only 4.8 new ones a year; British Columbia’s towns permitted 18.1
A median of $1,000,000 and a mean of $1,144,000: that is how owners valued their homes in 2021. In 2023, 30 homes changed hands at a median price of $1,230,000, by Statistics Canada’s count. On the 2024 assessment, the middle residential property is valued at $1,260,000.
Three ways to price a home in Highlands
Each source sits beside its own median for British Columbia’s towns; none compares across provinces, which value homes in their own ways. No sale stands behind these values: owners named them at the census of May 2021.
median, owners’ estimate
- Average
- $1.14M
- Owners
- 875
- British Columbia’s towns
- $720K
- The typical Canadian town
- $406K
median sale price
- Average sale
- $1.43M
- ÷ buyers’ income
- 5.8×
- Buyers
- 30
- British Columbia’s towns
- $682K
all residential
- British Columbia’s towns
- $671K
Census 2021 (Statistics Canada); Canadian Housing Statistics Program, tables 46-10-0099 and 46-10-0093; Québec rôle d’évaluation foncière 2026 (MAMH).
A detached house in Highlands is assessed 71% higher than across British Columbia’s towns
Of Highlands’s 815 residential properties on the 2024 roll, 91% are detached houses.
Median assessment by type, 2024 the tick is the median of British Columbia’s towns
Canadian Housing Statistics Program, table 46-10-0093 (2024): residential properties on the assessment roll, vacant land left out. The ticks are the median of British Columbia’s towns with their own figure; assessments compare within a province only.
Single-detached houses are 95% of Highlands’s homes, against 62% for British Columbia’s towns
At the 2021 census, Highlands had 1,000 homes with someone living in them. Half or more were standing by 2000.
Homes by period of construction the tick is the median of British Columbia’s towns
Homes by kind
| Highlands | British Columbia | Canada | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Condominiums | under 1% | 10% | 8% |
| Needing major repairs | 5% | 6% | 6% |
| Too small for the household | 3% | 4% | 3% |
| Households in core housing need | 6% | 10% | 7% |
Census 2021 (Statistics Canada): occupied private dwellings; core housing need as Statistics Canada defines it. Ticks and columns are medians of the towns and neighbourhoods of 2,500 or more.
Permits in Highlands peaked in 2021: 16 new homes
Highlands issued permits for 36 new homes from 2018 to 2023, or about 6 a year. Houses dominate the permits, at 100% in single-unit buildings (British Columbia’s towns: 27%).
New homes a year per 1,000 homes
Down 5%: 4,220 new homes in the year to August 2026
Statistics Canada, tables 46-10-0087 (building permits by census subdivision, 2018–2023: dwelling units created, new construction and conversions) and 34-10-0292 (monthly, metro areas). Per 1,000: units a year over 2019–2023 against occupied homes in 2021. · Monthly permits: one figure for all of the Victoria metro area
Highlands is dearer than most of British Columbia’s towns: 39% above their $720,000 median
254 of British Columbia’s towns (2,500 people or more), by median value at the 2021 census, dearest first.
Census 2021, owners’ estimates; towns and neighbourhoods of 2,500 or more, no city as a whole, no reserve.
Lower values near Highlands: Central Saanich, Langford and View Royal
Next to Highlands: 2021 census values and the share of owners.
| Town | Median home value | Average | Owners | km |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Highlands | $1M | $1.14M | 89% | |
| Central Saanich | $900K | $973K | 80% | 7.5 |
| Langford | $730K | $752K | 65% | 9.8 |
| View Royal | $800K | $848K | 67% | 9.8 |
| East Saanich 2 | – | – | 87% | 11 |
| New Songhees 1A | – | – | 65% | 11.8 |
| Electoral Area A, Cowichan Valley | $800K | $814K | 88% | 12.4 |
Census 2021 values; km.
Questions about property prices in Highlands
How many households in Highlands are in core housing need?
Fewer than most: 6% of households in Highlands, where British Columbia’s towns sit at 10%.
Is Highlands expensive for British Columbia?
Above the norm for British Columbia’s towns, whose median home is worth $720,000; Highlands’s is worth more.
What is the average house price in Highlands?
An average of $1,430,000 in 2023, with the median sale at 5.8 times the buyer’s income.
Can I see individual sales or prices by street?
Only in total: Statistics Canada releases each town’s median and average sale and its number of buyers, never a single sale.
Sources: Statistics Canada, Census of Population 2021 · Statistics Canada, Canadian Housing Statistics Program · Statistics Canada, building permits (tables 46-10-0087 and 34-10-0292). Under the Statistics Canada Open Licence.
Adapted from Statistics Canada (Census of Population 2021, population estimates 2025, 2021 census boundaries) under the Statistics Canada Open Licence; this does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada. Neighbourhood names in some cities © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).