Bainbridge Island may be part of Kitsap County, but where housing costs are concerned the bucolic, tree-covered refuge more resembles North Seattle or King County's Eastside.

Compare single-family home prices, for instance. Last year's median-priced Bainbridge Island house was $311,000, about the same as the figure for Magnolia or Sammamish - communities with median home prices in the top 25 percent in King County. (Median price means half sell for more, half for less.)

What's more, over the past 15 years the island has enjoyed 8 percent annual appreciation, roughly equal to that in North Seattle's popular Wedgwood and Bryant neighborhoods.

By comparison, King County's own saltwater island, Vashon, had a lower median price and less appreciation: $252,000 last year and 7 percent (annually over 15 years).

"We are a much higher market than Vashon because our commuting is much easier," explains Barbara Crabtree, managing broker of John L. Scott's Bainbridge office.

The half-hour ferry ride from Bainbridge directly into downtown Seattle, where many island residents work, also makes Bainbridge's real-estate market mirror Seattle's, says Georg Syvertsen, managing broker at Deschamps Realty.

"It's the accessibility factor; you can sit on a ferry and make use of your time, and it's less stressful than sitting on I-5 or I-90."

But mostly, buyers are drawn to the island's rural setting, he says. "It's people wanting to be healthier, to have a place to walk, jog, ride their bike and have more of a sense of community. Bainbridge Island offers that."

Increasingly it offers million-dollar homes and little for moderate-income buyers. Last year just 5 percent of all single-family houses on the island sold for less than $175,000. And when Syvertsen checked recently, the cheapest house available was a 1,300-square-foot manufactured home for $189,000.

Elizabeth Rhodes can be reached at erhodes@seattletimes.com.