Maugerville and Sheffield are the cheapest established addresses on this side of Fredericton, and the reason is not a secret. The intervale floods. It flooded in 2018 and again in 2019, and it will flood again. This page is about what that actually means for a buyer, with the province’s own numbers, because the honest version is more useful than the version that leaves it out.
The number
The MLS® Home Price Index benchmark for Maugerville and Sheffield was $268,700 in August 2026 — $95,500 below the regional benchmark of $364,200, and the cheapest sub-area in Fredericton North.
| Period | Maugerville / Sheffield | Fredericton North area |
|---|---|---|
| 12 months | +5.8% | +6.3% |
| 3 years | +26.3% | +24.9% |
| 5 years | +57.2% | +50.2% |
Note the five-year figure. Prices here have risen faster than the north side as a whole, in the years after two of the worst floods on record. Discounted is not the same as declining.
What the province’s gauges actually recorded
New Brunswick maintains river gauges and publishes a flood history database. These are the official post-event figures, not live readings:
| Gauge | Flood stage | 2018 peak | 2019 peak |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fredericton | 6.5 m | 8.36 m | 8.37 m |
| Maugerville | 6.0 m | 7.33 m | 7.10 m |
| Sheffield – Lakeville Corner | 4.8 m | 7.02 m | 6.82 m |
Maugerville passed flood stage on 27 April 2018 and peaked on 6 May, more than a metre above stage. Route 105 was closed for a 75-kilometre stretch between Fredericton and Youngs Cove. Provincial reporting from the time records dozens of Sheffield residents being taken out of their homes; in 2019 an official put it at twenty-five people helped to leave in the Maugerville and Sheffield areas.
Two things are worth reading off that table. Fredericton crested marginally higher in 2019 than 2018, but Maugerville and Sheffield both crested lower in 2019. And Sheffield’s flood stage is 4.8 metres against Maugerville’s 6.0 — different gauges on different datums, so do not compare the two directly. Compare each against its own stage.
The flood maps, and what I will not tell you
New Brunswick publishes Flood Hazard Maps through GeoNB, released in January 2022. They model five scenarios: a 1-in-20-year and a 1-in-100-year flood, each for present-day and projected 2100 conditions, plus a projected 2100 high-water line for the coast.
That tool is the right place to look up a specific parcel, and it is free and public. I am not going to quote you a flood elevation for Maugerville or Sheffield off this page, because an elevation is only meaningful against a specific property’s ground level, and a wrong number here would be worse than no number. Look up the address, or ask me and we will look it up together before you write anything.
I also could not find any evidence, in either direction, that dykes or aboiteaux protect this stretch of intervale. The Bay of Fundy dykeland system is a different thing entirely. If anyone tells you the flats are diked, ask them for the source.
Disaster financial assistance, and the buyout nobody explains properly
New Brunswick’s Disaster Financial Assistance programme is activated event by event. As of today there is no programme open — it becomes available only if the province authorises it after a future event, and applications close 90 days after authorisation.
When it is open, the terms as published by the province are:
- Up to $200,000 for individuals, with a $1,000 deductible. Repeat claims for the same damage are reduced to 80%.
- Flood-proofing assistance of up to 15% of repair costs.
- Long-term rental assistance up to $1,500 a month for six months.
- If damage reaches 50% or more of the property’s value from a single event — or 80% accumulated across several — the province may buy the property instead of repairing it.
- Refusing a buyout offer means no future assistance, and a notice on the land registry.
That last point is the one to sit with. The threshold dropped from 80% to 50% in 2023, which makes a buyout considerably more likely than it used to be. And a land registry notice attaches to the property, not the owner. When you are buying here, check the registry. It is a title search question, and your lawyer should be told specifically to look for it.
Insurance — get the quote before the condition date
I am going to be careful here, because this is where bad advice does real damage.
Overland flood coverage in Canada is written at the insurer’s discretion. The Government of Canada’s own guidance says availability “varies across insurance companies and depends on your flood risk as assessed by your insurance provider.” Public Safety Canada has reported that coverage is generally offered in low and medium risk areas, and that in high-risk areas it is often cost-prohibitive, with flood endorsements alone running into five figures. The federal backstop programme intended to address exactly this has not launched.
What I will not do is tell you whether a particular Maugerville or Sheffield address is insurable, because nobody can tell you that except an insurer looking at that address. What I will tell you is the sequence: get a written quote, in writing, from an insurer, before your condition date expires. Not a verbal indication. Not “it should be fine.” A quote. If the property is financed, your lender will want it anyway.
Tax: unincorporated, and the rate depends on which old line you are inside
Both communities sit in the Capital Region rural district — unincorporated, with no municipal council. An elected advisory committee represents residents, and the rates are set provincially. Part of the former Sheffield district went to the Municipality of Grand Lake instead.
The 2026 local rates published for these former districts:
| Former district | Local rate per $100 |
|---|---|
| Sheffield In | $0.4374 |
| Maugerville | $0.4958 |
| Inner Maugerville | $0.5124 |
| Sheffield Out | $0.5157 |
| Sheffield Outside (Grand Lake) | $0.6181 |
Add the provincial levy of $0.4115 to any of those. The spread from cheapest to dearest is 18 cents per $100 — about $483 a year on a $268,700 assessment. The province publishes the rates but no public map of where the sub-district boundaries run, so the authoritative answer for any given house is its own assessment notice.
Getting there
Maugerville is about 21 kilometres from Officers’ Square — Princess Margaret Bridge, Route 8, then Route 105 down the north bank. Roughly twenty minutes in normal conditions. Route 105 is the spine of the community and, as 2018 demonstrated, the thing that closes.
What I check on a walkthrough here
Everything on the rural list, plus a set of questions specific to a flood plain.
- The land registry, for a disaster-assistance notice. Tell your lawyer to look.
- What the 2018 and 2019 water actually did to this house. Ask directly. Ask what came out and what went back in.
- The basement, in detail. Waterline staining, replaced sill plate, new mechanical sitting on blocks, a furnace or tank that has been raised. Raised equipment is a good sign about the owner and a clear sign about the history.
- Mould behind finishes in anything that was rebuilt after a flood.
- The oil tank. Tanks in a flood plain are their own conversation — floating tanks caused a lot of the environmental damage in 2018.
- Well and septic. Both are compromised by flooding, and both need testing after one.
- Ordinary basement water as well as flood water. They are different problems.
- Radon, aluminum wiring and a WETT inspection on any wood heat, same as anywhere else.
The honest summary
This is real farmland on some of the best soil in the province, twenty minutes from downtown, at a price nothing else within that drive can match. The discount exists for a reason and the reason is well documented. A buyer who goes in with a flood map, a written insurance quote and a clean title search is making an informed decision. A buyer who goes in without them is gambling, and the odds are published.
Where to go from here
- The neighbourhood finder — all 33 sub-areas sorted by budget band.
- Marysville and Devon at $313,600 — the cheapest established address inside the city, if you want to compare.
- Penniac and the Nashwaak valley — the other rural option on this side, off the flood plain.
- Buying a home in Fredericton — conditions, closing costs and the process.
Considering the flats and want the flood map, the tax rate and the registry check done properly before you commit? Get in touch — I answer my own phone.
