The call of island life is strong on these warm summer days, so we took a looky-loo at Vancouver Island’s most expensive – and aspirational – home listings.
Check out our countdown of the island’s current top 10, as of August 1, 2018.
A sprawling, 16.45-acre, forested parcel on Saanich Inlet, this property boasts what the listing calls “unparalleled privacy.” The south-facing residence is in a typical West Coast design, built in 1993, and has the privilege of featuring an interior Totem carved by renowned First Nations artist, the late Chief Tony Hunt. The six-bed, 10-bath house has more than 8,900 square feet of living space with vaulted ceilings, with every room (including the garage) enjoying views of serene Saanich Inlet. The home was made for entertaining and leisure, with expansive patio and deck areas, manicured grounds, an indoor pool with swim jets and water features, and two wet bars. The 840-foot shoreline has a private cove, foreshore license with a 49-foot deep water dock, Marine Ways and an Oceanfront Studio. There’s also a self-contained caretaker/guest loft.
=8. Uplands, Victoria: $8,500,000
One of two Uplands estates in these rankings, this is a gated, 1990s-custom-built, oceanfront home with more than 9,000 square feet of living space. The interior is designed for entertaining, according to the listing, and all principal rooms have sea views. There’s a chef’s kitchen, dining room, large living room with fireplace, office and family on the main floor. Upstairs has three bedrooms including a large master suite, and the lower floor has another family room, recreation room, media room, wine cellar, hot tub, and three more bedrooms. The 1.3-acre property has landscaped gardens, water features, patios and direct access to the beach. With its amazing ocean views and ultra-desirable location, the right buyer will hopefully be able to see past (or embrace!) the elaborate 90s interior décor.
=8. Blenkinsop, Saanich: $8,500,000
The first of two farms on this list, this near-32-acre property in the Blenkinsop Valley ALR on the Saanich peninsula has close to 20 acres of arable land. The existing home is on a hilltop overlooking the southern valley to the Olympic mountains. The house has 5,979 square feet of living space with seven bedrooms, five bathrooms, six sun decks and two patios – but of course, it is ripe for redevelopment, and the listing encourages the buyer to “build your dream estate and bring your horses.” The property also has a 10,000-square-foot barn with “limitless options.”
This very private, forested estate is set on 1.7 acres of oceanfront property. Living accommodation includes a 2002-built main residence, plus a separate two-bedroom guesthouse, a carriage house with caretaker’s suite, and a “rustic” one-bedroom boathouse on the shore. The luxurious main house has three bedrooms including a large master suite with oceanview balcony, a huge great room with cathedral ceilings and gallery, a hexagonal dining room, a chef’s kitchen, and luxury finishings throughout. There’s also a smokehouse down by the water with an oceanfront deck.
6. Saanich Inlet, North Saanich: $10,250,000
In the Saanich Inlet-Pat Bay area of North Saanich is this oceanfront estate with a French-style mansion dubbed “Chateau De Lis." Sitting on a six-acre waterfront property, the main house has 9,700 square feet of living space plus a 2,136-square-foot guest house and a 1,142-square-foot caretaker’s home above the six-car garage. The elaborate main residence has four bedrooms, eight bathrooms, huge living and entertaining areas, vaulted ceilings, stone fireplaces, movie theatre, games room and fabulous ocean views. The property has its own beach, as well as grand landscaped gardens, a park area with trees and an orchard with greenhouse that falls under the ALR (and is subject to ALR taxes).
5: Downtown Victoria: $10,799,000
This listing is the only condo in our rankings, and the only home not yet in existence – it’s due to be completed in 2020. Described as the first home of its kind that Victoria has seen, penthouse #702 at Customs House will have 4,422 square feet of ultra-luxury interior space, leading out to 1,500 square feet of rooftop patio with views of the Inner Harbour, the parliament building and Fairmont Empress. The home will have three bedrooms with ensuites, including a master suite with its own balcony, 10-foot ceilings, open-concept living and dining, imported Italian cabinetry, Wolf/Sub-zero appliances, and custom wine wall.
4. Central Saanich: $12,000,000
This farm with four separate houses is on 97 acres overlooking the Martindale Valley in Central Saanich, and is described as one of the largest freehold properties on the Saanich Peninsula. The listing says, “At the present time it is a working farm, raising heifer cows, hay crops from the fields and supplying landscape materials.” The four homes take advantage of wonderful views of Martindale Valley and the ocean, and the main house is luxurious with updated finishes.
3. Metchosin, Victoria: $12,888,000
The third-priciest property is this architecturally cutting-edge, 10,700-square-foot house designed by Marco Simcic. According to the listing, the award-winning home is “cantilevered either side of an outdoor man-made ‘Canyon River’ producing geothermal radiant heating and cooling.” Located west of the capital, on the island’s south coast between Victoria and Sooke, the home sits on a vast, 67-acre oceanfront lot with 1,400 feet of shoreline and a private beach with Olympic Mountain vistas. The home itself has six bedrooms, eight bathrooms and a host of unbelievably stunning architectural details and finishes (seriously, click through to the listing to see the photos). Attached to the house is an uber-cool clear-walled swimming pool, as well as a boat house with ramp. There is also a caretaker’s cottage (you’ll need a caretaker, for those 67 acres), a parking garage with hydraulic lift, and a tennis court.
2. Uplands, Victoria: $15,000,000
Just north of Oak Bay on the Saanich peninsula, in the chi-chi Uplands neighbourhood, is this six-bed, nine-bath family home. Set on 2.5 acres of south-facing waterfront with more than 1000 feet of seawall above rocky shoreline, the property also has its own sandy beach and amazing views of the ocean and Mount Baker. The luxury home has more than 15,000 square feet of grand living space, including a spectacular great room with 23-foot ceilings, indoor pool with vaulted ceiling and gallery, hot tub, movie theatre, club room, private elevator and not just an office, but an office wing. There’s also a guest house, in case there’s not enough room inside for all your visitors.
The existing house on this property is very modest, considering this is Vancouver Island’s most expensive listing on the MLS right now. It’s a 1983-built, four-bedroom house that is nice but not high end. But the spectacular waterfront lot in desirable North Saanich, ripe for development, is what that price is all about. It is 24.57 acres of non-ALR land spread over two legal titles with 1,500 feet of ocean frontage including a foreshore lease, deepwater moorage and private dock. The local community plan supports sub-division development with density between 48 single and 74 clustered lots. The listing describes it as the “largest sub-dividable waterfront property on Pacific Northwest coast within 10 min of an international airport.” So it’s highly unlikely that house will stay standing under new ownership.
