Suburban · Dartmouth, Halifax
Portland Hills and Westphal
Detached-home suburbs between Portland Street and Cole Harbour
- Families with kids
- Owners on a budget
- Long-term owners
At a glance
Portland Hills and Westphal are suburbs east of Dartmouth centre, mostly detached houses on quiet streets with schools and parks. Three in four homes are detached and owners outnumber renters six to one. About 75% of homes are detached and 1% are apartments, 13% of households rent, and owners valued the median home at about $309K in the 2021 census.
- Median home value (est.)
- $377K* * est.: 2021 census, indexed to September 2026 · city $423K
- Residents
- 16,830 scaled estimate for mid-2025, up from 14,323 at the 2021 census
- Households renting
- 13% city 43%
- Homes that are apartments
- 1% city 36%
What the numbers mean
- Owners valued the median home at $309K in the 2021 census. Indexed to September 2026 prices with the Halifax-Dartmouth MLS® Home Price Index (+22% since then), that is about $377K, 11% below the Halifax median of $423K. It is an estimate: the index tracks the whole region, not this neighbourhood.
- 13% of households rent, well below the 43% city-wide. Most people here own and stay a while.
- 75% of homes are single-detached houses, versus 48% city-wide.
Who lives here
Share of residents by age, scaled estimate for mid-2025, up from 14,323 at the 2021 census.
Homes
Share of homes by type, scaled estimate for mid-2025, up from 14,323 at the 2021 census.
Estimated property tax1
What owning here costs each year in property tax at the median assessed value. Renters don’t pay it directly, but landlords pass it on.
- Median home
- $4,230 a year about $350 a month on a $377K assessment
Upfront closing costs2
Nova Scotia has no provincial land transfer tax; the Halifax Regional Municipality charges a deed transfer tax of 1.5% of the price. Government fees at the median home price: This uses the census home value indexed to September 2026 prices, so treat it as an estimate.
- HRM deed transfer tax
- $5,660 on $377K
Getting to work by transit3
- DowntownNo transit within a 1 km walk
- Dalhousie UniversityNo transit within a 1 km walk
- Burnside Business ParkNo transit within a 1 km walk
- AirportNo transit within a 1 km walk
Average weekday morning trip by bus, train or both, including walking and waiting. Driving and cycling times aren't included for Halifax.
Everyday walkability4
How Portland Hills and Westphal compares with other blocks in the nine cities, by what is nearby (higher means closer):
Schools5
- Schools here
- 8 public
- Elementary
- 7
- High school
- 2
- Within 2 km
- 25 of its edge
- Eric Graves Memorial Junior High SchoolElementary
- Graham Creighton Junior High SchoolElementary
- Humber Park Elementary SchoolElementary
- Joseph Giles Elementary SchoolElementary
- Mount Edward Elementary SchoolElementary
- École Bois-JoliElementary
- École du CarrefourKindergarten to Grade 12
- Auburn Drive High SchoolHigh school
The school nearest the house may not be the school your child is assigned to. School boards assign a designated school by street address, and a neighbourhood can be split across several or have none inside its boundary. Use your school board’s school locator with the exact address before you rely on a school.
We don’t rate schools: test results are not comparable across provinces, so a school’s quality is something to ask about on a visit.
Halifax doesn't publish building permits by neighbourhood, so we can't chart construction here yet.
Neighbourhood-level crime figures aren't available for Halifax. Halifax Regional Police and the RCMP don't publish open crime counts by neighbourhood that we can compare across areas. Check Statistics Canada's crime tables for municipality-wide trends. Why this is missing.