General Discussion

The city of Vancouver is on the mainland, and is indeed expensive, housing especially.

On the other hand, Vancouver Island, with the exception of Victoria on the southern tip, is much more affordable.

I don’t know what the average house costs in Northern Virginia, so can’t give you a clear comparison. We bought our 2300sqft home in Nanaimo with an ocean view (water is about 1km away) in 2019 for the equivalent of $495,000USD. Same house in city of Vancouver would be $2 millionUSD+ (and it’s not a fancy house) Prices went up during COVID due to low interest rates and fewer listings, but are coming back down. Homes without ocean views are more affordable, especially up island in smaller rural communities.

Taxes are comparable to those in California, although property taxes are much lower. Utility bills for gas, water and electric are significantly lower than in California, as is home insurance.