South Shore Communities · St. Margarets Bay, NS
St. Margarets Bay & Hubbards Real Estate
The closest stretch of the South Shore to Halifax, and the one where almost every house is on its own well.
This is home for me. I live on St. Margarets Bay, so this is the one piece of coast I can talk about as a neighbour and not just as a REALTOR®.
It is also where the fine print bites hardest. Two things catch buyers here, and neither shows up in a listing: a stormwater bill on a house with no municipal water, and an elevation line on the shore that decides where you can build.
Price bands
What your budget buys
A lake lot, sheltered bay frontage and exposed outer-bay oceanfront are three different buys on price, use and insurance. Which water you are on matters here as much as the square footage.
Under $500K
Inland, or a cottage
Off the water, or seasonal rather than four-season. Check the heat source and the insulation, because that changes what a lender will do.
See what is listed →$500K to $750K
The heart of the market
A year-round family house on a good lot, usually with water access nearby rather than frontage. Most Halifax commuters buy in this band.
See what is listed →$750K to $1.2M
On the water
Real frontage on the bay or a lake. Ask about the setbacks below before you offer, because they decide what you can add later.
See what is listed →$1.2M and up
Outer bay oceanfront
Deep frontage, open ocean, or an architect-built house on a point. Thin, and it moves on its own schedule.
See what is listed →Patterns, not promises. Ask me what is on the market this week, and which of it is worth the drive.
Before you write an offer
You are on a well, and you can still get a water bill
Halifax Water's only drinking water supply out here is the Five Island Lake wellhead near Hubley, and it serves about ten connections. Everything else draws from a private well. Yet since June 2022 Halifax Water has billed a stormwater fee to properties on a well and a septic with no Halifax Water service at all, based on hard surface and whether you have a driveway culvert.
| Hard surface on the property | Annual charge |
|---|---|
| Under 50 m² | Nothing |
| 50 to 200 m² | $25 |
| 210 to 400 m² | $50 |
| 410 to 800 m² | $100 |
| Over 810 m² | $151 |
| Driveway culvert only | $25 |
Rates effective 1 April 2026. Every property is assessed individually from satellite imagery, so an address in Boutiliers Point or Upper Tantallon is not automatically billed, and there is a formal objection process if you disagree. Note also that the old flat $40 right-of-way charge left the Halifax Water bill in April 2023 and now sits on the tax bill, so older advice about it is out of date. Halifax Water is 902-420-9287.
The second one
The Coastal Protection Act never came into force. This did
Buyers assume the province governs what happens on the shore. It does not. The Act passed in 2019 and has never been proclaimed in force. What decides where you can build is HRM's Land Use By-law for Planning Districts 1 and 3.
| Rule | What it means on the ground |
|---|---|
| 20 metre buffer | No development permit within 20 m of the ordinary high water mark. The by-law counts the ocean as a watercourse, so this is your shoreline setback. |
| Steep lots | Where the average slope inside that buffer tops 20 percent, the buffer grows 1 m for every extra 2 percent of slope, up to 60 m. |
| 3.8 metre elevation | No dwelling on a lot abutting the Atlantic, including its inlets and bays, below 3.8 m elevation. |
| Relief for tight lots | Exists, but only for lots already in existence on or before 26 August 2006. A newer lot does not qualify. |
This does not stop you buying oceanfront. It decides where the house can sit and whether a tight older lot can take anything more. Find out before you write, not after.
From the air
See St. Margarets Bay from above
I live on this bay and shoot my own aerial footage. If you are buying from a distance and want to see a specific property or street this way, ask.
Homes for sale around St. Margarets Bay & Hubbards
Current listings across the corridor, updated live. As your neighbour out here, I will get you in to see the ones worth your time.
Before you write an offer
The questions I get asked
The well. What do I test for, and how often?
Nova Scotia's guidance is bacteria every six months, chemistry every two years. Bacteria runs $30 to $50. The full chemical package, the one covering arsenic and uranium, runs $200 to $300. Both occur naturally in Nova Scotia bedrock, so test the specific well rather than trusting an area's reputation.
Quantity deserves as much attention as quality. In the dry summer of 2025 HRM ran an emergency water site at the Black Point fire station, one of only five in the whole municipality. Ask the seller about flow rate and whether the well has ever run low.
What do I pay in property tax out here?
Hubbards through Upper Tantallon is all designated rural by HRM. For 2026/27 that is $0.654 per $100 of assessment, plus supplementary education $0.015, Climate Action $0.016 and the provincial $0.300.
Two things you do not pay: there is no fire hydrant rate and no local transit area rate anywhere in this corridor, though you still get the Tantallon regional express bus. Two smaller lines, right-of-way and rural active transportation, apply by mapped area, so confirm those with HRM at 311 for the specific address. And the assessment cap resets on sale, so the tax the seller pays is often not the tax you will pay.
Can a non-Canadian buy here? Hubbards is complicated.
The federal ban applies inside Census Metropolitan Areas, and the Halifax CMA covers this whole corridor, so for Upper Tantallon, Seabright, the head of the bay, Black Point, Queensland, Fox Point and the Halifax County side of Hubbards, it applies. It is currently set to expire 1 January 2027.
Hubbards straddles the line. The HRM boundary with the Municipality of the District of Chester runs through the area, and the Chester side is outside the CMA, where the ban does not reach. Do not go by which side of a road a house sits on. The deciding fact is which municipality the PID is assessed in, and I check that on the specific property.
Nova Scotia's non-resident deed transfer tax is separate and it does apply, with an exemption if you become a resident within six months of closing. As of 7 August 2026 you have a full year from closing to file your proof of residency. Detail is in Buying From Away.
Can this lot take a septic system?
This one catches people on vacant land, because the province sets a higher bar than HRM does. HRM's minimum lot size in most zones here is 1,858 m². Provincial regulation sets it by how deep the permeable soil is:
| 900 mm or more | 2,700 m² |
| 601 to 899 mm | 3,150 m² |
| 300 to 600 mm | 4,500 m² |
| 150 to 299 mm | 6,800 m² |
| Under 150 mm | 9,000 m² |
Waterfront lots with more than 600 mm of permeable soil need at least 3,700 m² and 45 m of width. So a lot can meet HRM's minimum and still fail the province's. Separately, lots fronting a trunk or route highway outside the service areas need 61 m of frontage, and St. Margarets Bay Road and Route 333 are both on that list.
Can I rent it out short term?
Be careful here. Under HRM's 2023 rules an entire-home short-term rental in a residential zone must be the operator's primary residence. An older clause in this by-law allows one dwelling unit per lot to be used as accommodation for the travelling public, which may get a cottage buyer where they want to go, but it is a development officer's call on the specific parcel.
The February 2026 change that loosened this covered six rural plan areas and St. Margarets Bay is not one of them. If rental income is part of why you are buying, get the answer in writing from a planner before you remove conditions. Both the municipal and provincial registrations are also required.
How far is everything?
Highway 103 is four lanes the whole way from Upper Tantallon to Hubbards. That opened in July 2024, so anyone quoting you the old two-lane drive is working from stale information. The next phase of twinning is west of Hubbards, away from the city.
- Head of St Margarets Bay to downtown Halifax: about 31 km, roughly 30 to 45 minutes.
- Hubbards to downtown Halifax: about 50 km, roughly 40 to 55 minutes.
- Chester: about 20 minutes from Hubbards.
- Halifax Stanfield Airport: allow about an hour and a quarter, because it sits on the far side of the city.
Distances are firm. Times are my estimate, and a weekday morning is not a Sunday afternoon.
Schools, fire and the nearest emergency room
The corridor feeds the Bay View family: Shatford Memorial in Hubbards, St. Margaret's Bay Elementary at the head of the bay and the two Tantallon elementaries, into Five Bridges Junior High at Hubley, into Bay View High. Catchments are set address by address, so check the civic address on HRCE's school finder rather than assuming by community.
Three HRM fire stations cover the corridor, at Seabright, Black Point and Upper Tantallon, and Hubbards has its own department under Chester that responds on Highway 103 across the municipal line.
There is no hospital and no emergency department in this corridor. The NS Health site in Tantallon is blood collection and water-testing drop-off only. The nearest 24 hour emergency department, from both Hubbards and the head of the bay, is the Halifax Infirmary.
“Doug was essential in helping me buy my home in Hubbards. He’s honest, direct, and never pushy, which I really appreciated. It was clear from the start that he cared more about finding the right property for me than just making a sale.”
Keep looking
Nearby communities
Thinking about selling around the bay?
Know what your property is worth.
I live here, so I know what this market is doing street by street and where the Halifax buyers are looking. I cover the pre-listing inspection when I take a listing.
Sources. Stormwater rates effective 1 April 2026 and the Five Island Lake wellhead: Halifax Water. Tax and area rates, 2026/27: Halifax Regional Municipality. Setbacks and the 3.8 m elevation rule: Land Use By-law for Planning Districts 1 and 3 (St. Margarets Bay), amendments to 2 February 2026. Coastal Protection Act status: Nova Scotia Legislature proclamations table. Septic minimums: N.S. Reg. 317/2015. Well testing: Province of Nova Scotia. Highway 103 twinning: Province of Nova Scotia, 19 July 2024. Foreign buyer ban: SOR/2022-250. Figures current as of August 2026. I am a REALTOR®, not a lawyer, an engineer or a planner, so confirm anything affecting your financing, your building plans or your closing with the right professional.