May 2026 confirmed what the April numbers hinted at: the Markham resale market is gaining momentum. Transaction volume jumped sharply month-over-month, the average sale price crossed $1.19 million, and the dollar volume of sales climbed by more than $78 million compared to April. Across the GTA, the same directional story held, sales up year-over-year, new listings significantly down, and the inventory cushion that gave buyers strong negotiating power through the spring beginning to compress. What follows is a complete data-driven analysis of where Markham's market stands, how May compared to April, and what the broader GTA context means for buyers and sellers in York Region right now.
Markham in May 2026 — The Headline Numbers
The three most important numbers from Markham's May 2026 market tell a consistent story of recovery momentum: sales volume up sharply, revenue generated up substantially, and average prices appreciating meaningfully from the prior month. Here is how May landed:
April vs May 2026 — Complete Markham Comparison
The full month-over-month comparison reveals a market moving in a clear direction. Every demand-side metric improved in May, while the supply-side held largely stable, a combination that signals tightening conditions on the ground in Markham neighbourhoods.
The key signal in this data: Sales jumped 21.2% while new listings actually contracted by 2.6%. When demand rises sharply and supply tightens simultaneously, the absorption rate accelerates — meaning the inventory available in April is being consumed faster in May without an equivalent replenishment from new listings. Active listings are essentially flat (+0.6%), which means the market absorbed significantly more transactions in May without drawing down its listed inventory — a sign of sustained, healthy demand rather than a one-month spike.
Reading the Days on Market: What 38 Days Tells You
Days on market held steady at 38 in both April and May, a detail worth examining. In a market where sales are accelerating, you might expect days on market to compress as more buyers compete for the same homes. The fact that it held flat suggests two dynamics at play simultaneously: properties that are well-priced and in desirable locations are selling faster, while properties that are overpriced or in less sought-after pockets are taking longer, producing an average that masks the bifurcation happening beneath it. For buyers and sellers navigating Markham right now, days on market by specific property type and neighbourhood is a more useful data point than the aggregate figure.
For buyers: The 38-day DOM average means you still have time to conduct proper due diligence on most Markham properties — the panic-buying urgency of the 2021–2022 market has not returned. But the 21.2% month-over-month sales jump signals you should be pre-approved, aligned on your criteria, and ready to move when the right property appears. The negotiating leverage buyers held through winter 2026 is being gradually eroded by improving demand. For sellers: Average price growth of 5.2% month-over-month in May confirms that the pricing window is improving. Homes entering the market now are being absorbed into a stronger demand environment than what existed in March and April.
Why May Ran Stronger Than April
The April-to-May acceleration in Markham was not an anomaly, it reflected several converging factors that have been building since late winter and that TRREB's own data confirms are playing out GTA-wide.
Borrowing costs through spring 2026 are materially lower than the peak rate environment of 2023–2024, and with average prices in Markham still running below the highs of 2022, the all-in carrying cost of a purchase is more accessible than it has been in several years. This affordability window is attracting buyers who were priced out or chose to wait — and May saw a meaningful number of those buyers transact.
New listings in Markham declined 2.6% from April to May, while GTA-wide new listings fell 18.9% year-over-year. Sellers who were waiting for price confirmation before listing are now receiving that confirmation — but the supply they're adding is being absorbed by a buyer pool that has been building since January. The inventory equilibrium is shifting in sellers' favour, gradually but clearly.
The April-to-May jump is partly structural, spring is traditionally the GTA's most active resale season as families time purchases around the school year, employers relocate staff ahead of September starts, and the weather makes property viewing and moving practical. The 2026 spring cycle appears to be running ahead of 2025 in transaction volume, suggesting underlying demand accumulation during the quieter winter months.
TRREB's own commentary cites improving buyer confidence as a factor in spring 2026 activity. The extended period of price correction, which saw Markham's average price decline from 2022 peaks, has reset expectations. Buyers who spent 18–24 months waiting for the bottom are beginning to acknowledge that the current price environment may represent the floor, driving action in the spring window.
The GTA Picture — May 2026 in Context
Markham's May performance did not happen in isolation. The broader GTA market reported to TRREB tells a story that provides important context for how Markham's local numbers should be read, and what they portend heading into the summer and second half of 2026.
The GTA-wide picture presents an interesting divergence: sales are rising year-over-year and month-over-month, while prices measured year-over-year are still in negative territory, a lag effect that reflects the depth of the price correction that occurred through 2023 and into 2024. The gap between rising sales velocity and still-declining year-over-year price benchmarks is closing, and TRREB's forward guidance makes clear that the organisation expects prices to "level off and even start to grow as we move into 2027" if the current trends hold.
Spring sales have been stronger than last year, reflecting improved affordability stemming from lower selling prices and borrowing costs. Sales are forecast to improve further as we move through the second half of this year. Recovery would be further bolstered by positive news on the trade front along with an easing of geopolitical tensions and related uncertainty.
Inventory levels trended lower over the past year, but buyers continued to have substantial negotiating power through the spring, helping with affordability. Looking ahead, if sales strengthen further relative to listings, selling prices will level off and even start to grow as we move into 2027.
TRREB supports Bill 98, the Building Homes and Improving Transportation Infrastructure Act of 2026, which contains a simple but critical truth: if we want more attainable housing, we need to make it easier, faster, and less expensive to build homes. Many of the concrete measures contained in Bill 98 align with recommendations in TRREB's recently released policy report, Removing Roadblocks: Tackling Municipal Barriers to Housing Supply and Affordability in Ontario.
What the GTA Numbers Mean for Markham Specifically
Markham is outperforming the GTA average on a price-per-transaction basis, the local May average of $1,199,667 sits roughly $130,000 above the GTA average of $1,069,700. This premium reflects Markham's position as a genuinely desirable community: strong school catchments, mature neighbourhoods, exceptional trail and park access, low property tax rates relative to the 905, and a community event and cultural calendar that makes the city substantively liveable. The premium is not arbitrary speculation, it is market pricing for differentiated fundamentals.
The inventory tightening signal buyers should watch: GTA new listings fell 18.9% year-over-year in May. In Markham specifically, new listings contracted 2.6% month-over-month as sales jumped 21.2%. The direction of both trends — rising sales, contracting new supply — is the mathematical precondition for price appreciation. Buyers who have been waiting in the expectation that conditions will get more favourable should note that TRREB's own economists are now forecasting the opposite. The window of buyer negotiating leverage that characterised late 2024 and early 2025 is narrowing.
What May's Numbers Mean for Buyers and Sellers in Markham
Data is only as useful as the practical interpretation it supports. Here is how Kaizen Real Estate's team reads the May 2026 numbers in terms of actionable implications for buyers and sellers active in the Markham market right now.
The Markham New Development Context
The resale market momentum has implications for the new construction and pre-construction market as well. Projects like the Townhomes of Little Rouge in Greensborough, with Fall 2026 occupancy approaching, are being evaluated by buyers against a resale market that is showing clear price improvement momentum. The gap between resale and new construction pricing, which was wide through much of 2024 and early 2025, is narrowing. For buyers who have been holding off on pre-construction purchases while the resale market softened, the May 2026 data suggests the window of relative pre-construction advantage is also contracting.
Now That It's June — What the Summer Market Typically Brings
May's data is now in the rearview mirror, and as of June 2026 the Markham market has entered what is historically its most consequential stretch of the year. The decisions made by buyers and sellers over the next 90 days, June, July, and August, tend to shape the trajectory of the market's second half in ways that October or November data rarely reverses. Here is what summer typically means for real estate in Markham, and what the May momentum suggests about how this particular summer may play out.
June is typically when the strongest spring listings — the ones that didn't sell in April or May — either find buyers or get withdrawn ahead of summer. For buyers, this creates a short window to transact on well-located properties before the July slowdown thins active inventory further. For sellers, June is the last month where listing traffic is still at spring levels. Properties entering the market now benefit from an active buyer pool that built through May — and based on this year's numbers, that pool is larger than it was in June 2025.
Transaction volume in Markham typically softens 15–25% from May peaks through July and August as families take vacations and the urgency of school-year timing recedes. But this seasonal pause can be misleading: the buyers who remain active in July and August tend to be highly motivated — often job relocations, life-stage transitions, or buyers who have been in the market since spring and are determined to close before September. Competition on well-priced listings can actually intensify in mid-summer precisely because listing supply compresses faster than buyer demand does.
TRREB's own forecast calls for continued sales improvement through the second half of 2026. The fall rebound — historically the GTA's second busiest selling season — will be shaped by how much inventory accumulates over the summer and what buyer demand looks like heading into September. If June and July see continued listing contraction consistent with the May trend, the fall market could open with supply materially below prior-year levels, giving sellers pricing leverage they have not had since 2022. Buyers planning a fall purchase should be monitoring June and July listing volumes closely.
Despite the seasonal narrative, June 2026 remains an excellent month to buy in Markham for one reason the data supports: buyers still have negotiating room that TRREB explicitly confirms will diminish as the recovery advances. Average prices are rising month-over-month but remain well below 2022 peaks. New listings are contracting. The seasonal summer lull may actually offer a brief window of reduced competition on specific properties — particularly larger family homes and pre-construction — before the fall rebound tightens conditions further.
Summer listing tip for sellers: Homes listed between mid-June and mid-July in Markham benefit from a reduced-competition environment — many sellers pull back during summer, but buyers with September deadlines (school starts, job relocations, lease-ends) remain highly active through July. A well-staged, correctly priced home entering the market in June or early July competes against fewer listings while still capturing motivated buyers. The conventional wisdom that summer is a bad time to list does not hold uniformly in Markham's supply-constrained environment — particularly in the $900K–$1.3M townhome and semi-detached segment where May 2026 demand was strongest.
Analyse Your Position — Kaizen Real Estate Can Help
Whether you are a buyer calibrating your timing based on the May 2026 market data, a seller evaluating whether now is the right moment to list, or an investor tracking the Markham market's recovery trajectory, the Kaizen Real Estate team provides the analysis depth that both the transactional decision and the financial modelling behind it require.
Michael's CPA/CMA designation means the market analysis he provides goes beyond listing data — it covers the full financial picture of any purchase or sale decision in Markham. For buyers, that means modelling the complete all-in cost including land transfer tax, closing adjustments, carrying costs, and mortgage qualification at current rates. For sellers, it means pricing analysis grounded in the monthly data, not lagging benchmarks. For pre-construction buyers at projects like Townhomes of Little Rouge, it means deposit schedule modelling and post-closing cash flow projections that most realtors do not produce. Licence #4784577.
Neeraj brings granular neighbourhood-level knowledge to the market data — he can translate the aggregate Markham statistics into street-level context: which pockets are seeing days-on-market compress fastest, which property types are attracting the most competition, and where the pricing recovery is most pronounced versus still lagging. For buyers entering the Markham market for the first time, his community familiarity — particularly in Greensborough, Cornell, and the eastern Markham neighbourhoods — bridges the gap between the numbers and the lived experience of owning in those communities.