The back-to-school season, the fall market beginning after Labour Day and the September 8 first day of school, runs second only to spring in Markham real estate. Here are the numbers behind that and what they actually mean.
Michael John Lau, top real estate agent in Markham Ontario, walks through the data and its limits.
Why Fall Runs Second Only to Spring
The post-Labour Day inventory surge. After the summer slowdown, sellers who waited list their homes. This wave is a consistent seasonal pattern rather than a one-year event.
Renewed buyer activity. Buyer engagement softens over summer and returns sharply once families settle into fall routines.
Serious transactions. Fall buyers and sellers are generally acting on real needs and timelines rather than browsing, which produces a more functional market than mid-summer.
The Current Market Numbers
Metric | Current Reading | What It Indicates |
|---|---|---|
Average sold price | ~$1.1 million, down ~10% year over year | Favourable entry pricing relative to a year ago |
Active listings | ~509 houses, ~374 condos, ~320 townhouses | Elevated inventory and genuine buyer choice |
Days on market | ~32 days overall, ~30 days detached | A functional market where correctly priced homes move |
Sale-to-list ratio | ~98.9% | Correctly priced homes achieving close to asking |
Policy rate | 2.25% held through six consecutive decisions | A stable environment buyers can plan around |
Neeraj Moolchandani on Reading Market Averages Properly
Neeraj Moolchandani, REALTOR® at Kaizen Real Estate, warns clients against making decisions off a city-wide average. An average sold price of roughly $1.1 million blends detached homes near $2 million with condos near $700,000 across communities that behave completely differently. The number is useful for describing direction. It is close to useless for pricing a specific property.
What Neeraj actually looks at for a client is the sale-to-list ratio and days on market within their specific segment and community, because those two figures together tell you whether pricing in that pocket is realistic and how much runway a listing has. A 98.9 per cent city-wide ratio can mask a segment running at 94 per cent and another running at 104 per cent, and a seller who prices off the city figure in the wrong segment finds out slowly and expensively.
What the Data Means for Buyers
Favourable pricing with real choice. Prices down roughly 10 per cent year over year alongside elevated inventory across all property types gives buyers both better entry pricing and genuine selection.
A functional market. A 32-day average and a 98.9 per cent sale-to-list ratio indicate a market that works. Homes transact, pricing is realistic, and buyers are not bidding into chaos.
Rate stability. Six consecutive holds at 2.25 per cent allows planning and rate holds with confidence about the near-term environment.
What the Data Means for Sellers
The 98.9 per cent sale-to-list ratio is the number sellers should study hardest. It says correctly priced homes achieve close to asking. It also says that pricing above the market does not get rewarded, because the ratio is measured against final list price after any reductions.
With inventory elevated, buyers are comparing directly. Correct pricing on day one, strong presentation, and quality photography are what convert peak fall demand into a strong sale rather than an extended listing.
Get the Numbers for Your Segment, Not the City
City averages describe direction. Segment data prices a home. Book a private consultation with the Kaizen Real Estate Team.
How to Read These Numbers Honestly
Every figure here is a city-wide average as of August 2026, and each conceals substantial variation. Detached homes and condos behave differently. Wismer and Milliken Mills behave differently. A single quarter can be distorted by transaction mix.
These numbers are useful for understanding direction and for framing a conversation. They are not a substitute for comparable sales in your specific community, property type, and price band. Michael John Lau, top real estate agent in Markham Ontario, works from segment-level data rather than city averages when pricing a specific property.