Ten Mile Point is a good place to live if what you want from a neighbourhood is water, land and quiet, and you can pay for the privilege. It is the rocky headland on the east side of Cadboro Bay where Saanich runs out into Haro Strait, and it happens to be the easternmost point of Vancouver Island. There is no commercial strip, no through traffic and very little turning over, just big lots, old trees and some of the best water views on the peninsula.
Here is what living there is actually like, why the point is such a distinct market, and who should and should not have it on the list.
Where Exactly Is Ten Mile Point?
Ten Mile Point is the peninsula that forms the east side of Cadboro Bay in Saanich, with Cadboro Bay to the west and south and the Haro Strait shoreline, including Baynes Channel, on the east and north. The name is a nautical holdover: the point lies about ten nautical miles from Esquimalt, which was headquarters for the Royal Navy's Pacific Station, and the name simply stuck.
The high point of the area is Prevost Hill, which locals sometimes call Minnie Mountain, named after the British commissioner in the San Juan boundary dispute. It is a small, quiet corner of Saanich that most of the region never sees beyond the end of Cadboro Bay Road, and that is largely the point.
What Is Day-to-Day Life Like on the Point?
Life here is quiet by design. There are no shops, no cafés and no school on the peninsula itself, so everyday errands mean heading back to the shops along Cadboro Bay Road or over into Gordon Head. That is the honest trade-off: you trade convenience for a shoreline most of the city never sees, and the people who live here make that trade gladly.
The community anchor is the Cadboro Bay Residents Association, which has represented Cadboro Bay, Ten Mile Point and neighbouring Queenswood since 1959. It is the practical glue of the area, and Gyro Park and the Cadboro Bay village are where you actually run into your neighbours.
One thing residents treasure here is the darkness. The point keeps its nights dark, and in 2025 Saanich relaxed a required streetlight for a new subdivision at the neighbours' request. That tells you a lot about the character of the place: people move here for the natural setting, and they protect it.
What Kind of Homes Are Here?
Most of Ten Mile Point is single-family homes on generously sized lots, many close to an acre, which gives the area a semi-rural, treed feel you do not get in most of Saanich. The housing stock runs from mid-century and post-war houses to custom-built contemporary homes on the oceanfront bluffs, with a few older strata townhomes along Arbutus Road. Inventory turns over slowly, because people tend to buy here and stay.
A practical note for buyers: on a point like this, the land is the asset. Homes get updated or rebuilt over time, so the position, the water access and the view corridor usually matter more than the condition of the current house. That is a different way of valuing a property than most of the market uses, and it is exactly where a local agent earns their keep.
What Do People Actually Do Out There?
The recreation is the reason to be here: rocky shorelines with tidal pools and coves, sheltered paddling in Cadboro Bay, and quick access to Gyro Park and Cadboro-Gyro Beach a short drive back toward the village. At low water the tide pools along the point are a proper local ritual for families with kids and dogs.
It is also genuinely out of the way. The drive into town from the point is roughly fifteen to twenty minutes in normal traffic, and it is the wrong side of the city if you work on the West Shore. Locals accept that distance as the price of the setting.
Who Should Consider Ten Mile Point, and Who Should Not?
Choose Ten Mile Point if you want a long-hold home with real privacy, if you can see yourself on the water for years, kayaking and walking shorelines, and if being a twenty-minute drive from most amenities does not bother you. The buyers we meet there are not angling for a quick flip; they are putting down roots.
Skip it if you need walkability, if you commute west every day, or if a big share of your budget needs to go into the house itself rather than the land. For buyers who love this coastline but do not need the peninsula's price point, Cadboro Bay and Gordon Head share some of the same character for a different number, and we are happy to show you both.
The Bottom Line
Ten Mile Point is a small market with a long memory. Because so little changes hands, values are set by a handful of sales a year and a lot of local knowledge, which is exactly where having an agent who knows the east Saanich coastline matters. If you are serious about this corner of the city, you are not buying a house, you are buying a position on Vancouver Island's eastern edge, and that deserves careful, local guidance.
Want to understand what has actually sold along this stretch of Saanich's coast and what it means for your move? Contact the Happy Homes Team or book a call, and we will walk you through the east Saanich waterfront market, from Ten Mile Point down through Cadboro Bay and Cordova Bay.
About the Author
Anna Hakim & Perry Fanthorpe, Happy Homes Team
Anna Hakim and Perry Fanthorpe are AI Certified Agents helping people build lives on Southern Vancouver Island. We know the east Saanich coastline street by street, from Ten Mile Point through Cadboro Bay to Cordova Bay, and we bring thirty years of local business and community knowledge to every waterfront purchase.
