Introduction
A lot of families trade location for square footage. They get the bigger home. They do not always get the better life.
I have watched this play out for 18 years. A family looks at what they can afford in Markham, looks at what the same money gets them somewhere else, and chooses the bigger home somewhere else. On paper it makes sense. In practice, a few years in, the conversation starts to shift.
So here is the honest answer to the question a lot of families are wrestling with right now. Is Markham still worth it in 2026?
Yes. But not for the reasons most agents will tell you.
What they rarely calculate are the other factors that go into making a house a home
When families compare Markham to other GTA communities, they typically compare one number: purchase price. Markham costs more per square foot. That part is true.
What they rarely calculate is everything else.
Start with the commute. If you are working in Toronto or the inner GTA and you live in Markham, your daily commute is manageable. Highway 404 and 407 are accessible within minutes. GO transit runs from multiple stations. For most families, 35 to 45 minutes each way is realistic.
Move significantly further out to save money on the mortgage and that number can easily become 75 to 90 minutes each way. That is a difference of roughly 60 minutes daily. Over a working year that adds up to more than 250 hours. More than ten full days, every year, that you are spending in a car instead of being home with your family.
The mortgage savings are real. But so is that cost. Most families run the first calculation and skip the second.
Then add schools, parks, community infrastructure, safety, healthcare access, and employment proximity. When you run the full picture rather than just the price per square foot, Markham’s price tag starts to look different.
The school advantage matters even if your kids are not in school yet
Markham consistently ranks at the top of GTA suburbs for school quality. This shows up in independent rankings, parent surveys, and the data that school ranking platforms publish every year. Markham has more top ranked schools than most comparable GTA communities and has held that position for years.
Here is something worth considering for families whose children are young or not yet born. You may be buying your home before schools are part of your daily life. But schools shape the community around you from the day you move in. They influence the families who choose to live nearby, the culture of the neighbourhood, and the long term value of your property.
By the time your children are school age, you will have been living in that community for years. The school quality will not be a future consideration. It will be your present reality. Families who think ahead on this rarely regret it. Families who plan to sort it out later sometimes find the decision was already made for them.
For families that are empty nesters or past the school stage entirely, strong schools still matter. They underpin the community culture, support property values, and attract the kind of families who take long term care of their homes and neighbourhoods.
350 parks, a national urban park, and 87 percent of residents who say it is enough
Markham has more than 350 parks and open spaces across the city. These range from neighbourhood parkettes to large destination spaces including Milne Dam Conservation Park and Markham’s sections of Rouge National Urban Park, one of the largest urban national parks in the world.
Markham targets approximately 3 hectares of parkland per 1,000 residents. To put that in context, the GTA benchmark range is 2 to 4 hectares per 1,000 residents. Markham sits in the upper middle of that range and residents feel it. Roughly 87 percent of Markham residents say the city has enough green space, which is a strong result by any measure.
The qualitative edge is in the combination: many neighbourhood parks within walking distance, significant trail networks connecting them, and proximity to both Rouge National Urban Park and the Oak Ridges Moraine system. The result is a city that feels park-rich at the neighbourhood level in a way that shows up in daily life, not just on a map.
Fair point: comparable well-planned 905 cities like Richmond Hill, Vaughan, and Oakville have similar park ratios. This is not a unique advantage for Markham. But it is a genuine one, and it is part of the full picture families should be comparing, not just the price tag.
Canada’s high tech capital is here
Markham has the highest concentration of technology company headquarters in Canada outside of downtown Toronto. IBM Canada, AMD, Huawei Canada, Honeywell, and hundreds of other technology firms are based here.
For families where one or both partners work in tech, this matters enormously. Living in the same city as your employer eliminates the commute entirely or reduces it to minutes. The community benefit compounds the individual benefit. When a city attracts high skilled, well compensated professionals, the schools, infrastructure, and community investment that follow tend to reflect that.
The technology sector also provides economic resilience. Cities with diverse, high value employment bases tend to weather downturns better than communities that are primarily bedroom suburbs dependent on a single corridor.
18 years of watching how these decisions play out
I started in real estate in April 2008. I have worked through the financial crisis, the condo boom, the multiple offer frenzy of 2021 and 2022, the correction that followed, and the uncertain market we are navigating right now.
In that time I have worked with families who stretched for Markham and families who chose to save money by going somewhere else. I have stayed in touch with many of them over the years.
The pattern is consistent. The families who stretched for Markham almost never regret it. The ones who traded location for square footage often do.
The regret is rarely about the home itself. The home is usually fine. It is about the cumulative daily experience. The commute that grinds them down. The school that does not quite deliver. The sense that something is missing from the community around them. None of that shows up in the price comparison they ran before they bought.
The families who stretched for Markham almost never regret it. The ones who traded location for square footage often do. |
The honest case for knowing what you are actually trading
Markham is not the right choice for every family and I want to be fair about that.
Richmond Hill is a legitimate comparable. It competes with Markham on almost every measure. Strong infrastructure, good communities, solid access to major highways and transit. The clearest edge Markham holds is schools. If that is a priority for your family, Markham wins that comparison. If schools are less central to your decision, Richmond Hill deserves a serious look.
If your work is not in Toronto or the inner GTA, or if you work from home permanently, the commute argument changes entirely. The geography calculus is different and you should run your own numbers rather than taking anyone’s word for it, including mine.
And if square footage is genuinely the priority, there are communities where your budget goes significantly further. That is a real choice and for some families it is the right one. I would rather you make it with clear eyes than discover three years in that you traded more than you planned to.
What I am arguing is not that Markham is the only answer. I am arguing that when families compare on price alone they are comparing the wrong thing. The full picture includes commute time, school quality, employment proximity, daily quality of life, parks and green space, safety, and community infrastructure. When you run the full comparison honestly, Markham’s price tag starts to look like something else entirely. It starts to look like value.
So is it worth it in 2026?
Yes. Especially right now.
The current market gives you negotiating room, financing conditions, and time to make a considered decision that the 2021 and 2022 market simply did not allow. Homes that were out of reach two years ago are back on the table for families who are financially ready.
The question is not whether you can afford Markham. The question is whether you can afford the trade-offs that come with choosing somewhere that costs less on paper but more in ways you have not fully calculated yet.
For most of the families I work with, when they run the full comparison honestly, Markham wins.
Is this neighbourhood right for your family?
Not every neighbourhood is right for every family. Sherwood-Amberglen tend to be a strong fit if you have school-age children, you value a quieter street over walkability to urban amenities, you want a proper yard, and you plan to stay somewhere for at least five to seven years.
If you’re looking for a condo-alternative or prioritize being walking distance to shops and restaurants, there are other parts of Markham that might serve you better. I’ll tell you that honestly too.
But for the families I work with most, the ones who have outgrown their starter home and need space to actually live, this area consistently delivers.
Want to know what your budget actually gets you in Markham right now?
DM me the word MARKHAM and let’s run the numbers together.
