Photo: Dennis G. Jarvis · CC BY-SA 2.0A home in Portland Estates is worth 71% more than the middle of Nova Scotia’s towns
Owners put the median home at $428,000 at the 2021 census; for Nova Scotia’s towns the median is $250,000. An owner’s figure, not a sale: the census of May 2021 asked what each home would fetch. The median sale in 2023 was $493,000, across 8,470 buyers. Portland Estates shares its sale prices, assessed values, values by property type and building permits numbers with the rest of the city of Halifax.
What Portland Estates’s homes are worth, three ways
Every figure here is compared within the province, against Nova Scotia’s towns, since each province assesses on its own terms.
median, owners’ estimate
- Average
- $416K
- Owners
- 2,500
- Nova Scotia’s towns
- $250K
- The typical Canadian town
- $406K
median sale, wider area
- Average sale
- $530K
- ÷ buyers’ income
- 3.3×
- Buyers
- 8,470
- Nova Scotia’s towns
- $205K
all residential
- Nova Scotia’s towns
- $157K
Census 2021 (Statistics Canada); Canadian Housing Statistics Program, tables 46-10-0099 and 46-10-0093; Québec rôle d’évaluation foncière 2026 (MAMH).
Houses in Halifax carry 2.4 times the assessment of the median for Nova Scotia’s towns
Assessors listed 131,695 residential properties in Halifax for 2024, 71% of them detached houses and 7% condos.
Median assessment by type, 2024 the tick is the median of Nova Scotia’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 Nova Scotia’s towns with their own figure; assessments compare within a province only.
Since 2001: 57% of the homes in Portland Estates, where Nova Scotia’s towns have 17%
Of the 4,550 homes people lived in across Portland Estates at the 2021 census, 38% were single-detached houses. A neighbourhood’s counts are summed from small census areas, so its parts can fall a little short of the whole.
Homes by period of construction the tick is the median of Nova Scotia’s towns
Homes by kind
| Portland Estates | Nova Scotia | Canada | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Condominiums | 10% | 1% | 8% |
| Needing major repairs | 3% | 9% | 6% |
| Too small for the household | 3% | 2% | 3% |
| Households in core housing need | 8% | 8% | 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.
24.4 new homes a year per 1,000 in Halifax: more than Nova Scotia’s towns (13.5)
Some 4,387 homes a year: 26,323 in all were permitted in Halifax from 2018 to 2023. Apartments and other multi-unit buildings dominate: only 19% were single-unit, against 63% for Nova Scotia’s towns.
Most in 2023: 5,355 new homes
New homes a year per 1,000 homes
Down 15%: 5,538 new homes in the year to August 2026
Measured across the Halifax metro area: monthly permits
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.
Portland Estates is dearer than most of Nova Scotia’s towns: 71% above their $250,000 median
The census values of Nova Scotia’s towns, 90 of them with 2,500+ people, from dearest to cheapest.
Census 2021, owners’ estimates; towns and neighbourhoods of 2,500 or more, no city as a whole, no reserve.
Cheaper next to Portland Estates: Manor Park, Cole Harbour and Woodlawn
The places around Portland Estates at the 2021 census: median and average value, and how many own.
| Town | Median home value | Average | Owners | km |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Portland Estates | $428K | $416K | 55% | |
| Manor Park | $300K | $329K | 49% | 2.6 |
| Cole Harbour | $320K | $340K | 83% | 2.8 |
| Woodlawn | $300K | $349K | 78% | 3.3 |
| Westphal | $348K | $331K | 92% | 4.5 |
| Schmidtville | $548K | $668K | 14% | 5.1 |
| Austinville | $360K | $402K | 29% | 5.3 |
Census 2021 values; km.
Questions about property prices in Portland Estates
Is Portland Estates expensive for Nova Scotia?
Yes: Portland Estates’s census median is above the $250,000 of Nova Scotia’s towns.
How many households in Portland Estates are in core housing need?
Statistics Canada puts 8% of Portland Estates’s households in core housing need, much as for Nova Scotia’s towns (8%).
Can I see individual sales or prices by street?
No. Sales are published as town figures (median, average, buyers); street-level or single sales aren’t released.
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).