No, not the North Yorkshire town in the north of England famous for 18th Century woollen mills and the Halifax Building Society, but the fast growing North American city in the Canadian Province of Nova Scotia.

Far different from small English houses, most properties in Halifax Nova Scotia are wide fronted, mainly detached and have more than one bathroom. Land to build larger properties on is reasonably priced (compared to the UK anyway) and houses out of town using septic systems and wells for their water means building lot sizes have to be greater than a acre. This is to allow for waste water disposal in septic fields and lower density building so water supplies aren\’t an issue.

Houses in Halifax Nova Scotia almost always use a timber frame construction system built upon a concrete slab. Basements are almost always present which offer more storage and accommodation space than equivalent homes in the UK. Basements also offer housing for water heaters, pumps and other household paraphernalia.

Insulation standards are high due to severe winter cold and extreme high summer temperatures. As properties with high insulation values are well sealed from draughts and airflow in and out air exchangers are common. Their function is to circulate air inside the home and retain high insulation values. The system acts as a loop and moves air from bathrooms and kitchens with high humidity and blows air to other rooms.

An alternative to this is fitting air conditioning to a home to control high humidity in the summer months. Due to short summers air conditioning units in Nova Scotian homes is still quite rare.

Many different styles of home are built in Halifax Nova Scotia with some housing developers specifying a different style of house on each building lot within the development or at least only allowing a percentage of the same style of home to be built.

Roofing is generally asphalt shingles nailed to a weatherboard base to reduce weight on roof trusses. This allows lighter roofing joists to be used reducing costs which would be considerable for traditional cement roof tile type applications.

Halifax is pretty well central between Cape Breton to the East and Yarmouth to the West. Halifax is linked to the neighbouring Province of New Brunswick and the rest of Canada by twinned highways, railway and the main Robert L Stanfield Airport just outside Halifax so travel is not an issue.

Some large single family houses for sale in the main Downtown areas of Halifax are priced well over $1 million as are some condos overlooking the water and oceanfront homes along the prestigious Purcells Cove Road and Northwest Arm areas. Away from these areas single family detached homes needing a little TLC can be found from as low as $150,000 however for that sum most homes in good condition would most likely be semi detached.

Simply being a lakefront home adds around $100,000 to the price of a home although that can vary dramatically depending on the popularity of the lake in question. Oceanfront homes command in excess of the $100,000 waterfront tariff as they are preferred due to access for boating and fishing.

Author Bio: Bruce Annis is a realtor in Halifax Nova Scotia. Bruce is a high achieving realtor offering thoughtful and realistic advice for people looking to buy houses for sale in Halifax and Halifax real estate in general.

Category: Real Estate
Keywords: houses for sale in Halifax, houses for sale, real estate