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Markham sits right on the line that decides your down payment

Of all the markets I work in, Markham is the one where a small movement in purchase price has the largest effect on the cash you need. In TRREB's September 2026 Market Watch the average detached home in Markham sold for $1,534,139 — just over the $1.5 million insured mortgage cap. Barely over. And the rules on either side of that line are not slightly different, they are completely different.

At $1,490,000, mortgage default insurance is available and the tiered minimum applies: 5% of the first $500,000 plus 10% of the balance, which is $124,000. At $1,510,000, insurance is unavailable at any price, 20% becomes the legal floor, and the minimum is $302,000. A $20,000 difference in price produces a $178,000 difference in the cash you must bring. Nowhere else in the GTA does the typical home sit so close to that cliff edge.

So the first thing I do on a Markham detached file is work backwards from your available cash to find the price band you can actually operate in — not the other way round. Plenty of Markham buyers have been pre-approved on a number that quietly assumed the wrong side of the cap.

Markham's other housing types sit comfortably below it. Semi-detached homes averaged $1,019,322, attached townhouses $977,959, condo townhouses $829,470 and condo apartments $574,612 — all insurable, all on the tiered calculation. And because Markham is in York Region, outside the City of Toronto, there is no municipal land transfer tax on any of them.

If you are above the cap: the stress test becomes the real test

An uninsured mortgage at a federally regulated lender must pass the stress test. You have to qualify at the greater of your contract rate plus 2% or 5.25%, whichever is higher — a requirement that was unchanged as of 29 January 2026. On a Markham detached file this is usually what decides the outcome, not the down payment.

What that means practically is that your income, how it is structured and how much other debt you carry matter more than they would on a smaller insured purchase. And lenders do not assess those things the same way. Bonus and commission income, dividend income from your own corporation, rental income from a second property, a line of credit you never draw on — each of those is treated differently from lender to lender, and the spread between the most and least accommodating is often larger than any difference in rate. The stress test guide walks through the mechanics.

The compensations are real, though. An uninsured mortgage carries no CMHC premium and no Ontario PST on a premium to find at closing, and it gives you more latitude on amortization than an insured high-ratio file allows. If you have the 20%, uninsured is not a worse outcome — it is a different structure with its own advantages.

If you are near the line, it is also worth knowing that condo townhouses in Markham averaged $829,470 and attached townhouses $977,959. For a buyer who cannot reach 20% on a detached home, the freehold townhouse segment keeps you inside the insured world with a tiered minimum under $75,000. That is a legitimate strategy, not a consolation prize.

Land transfer tax in Markham: one tax, and the Steeles Avenue line

Markham is in York Region, so you pay the Ontario provincial land transfer tax only. There is no municipal land transfer tax in Markham, or anywhere in York Region. Toronto is the single municipality in Ontario that charges its own on top of the provincial tax.

The boundary is Steeles Avenue, and it is the sharpest closing-cost line in the region. Buyers who shop both Markham and Scarborough are comparing two different tax regimes across one road. On the Scarborough side you pay the Ontario tax and the Toronto Municipal Land Transfer Tax; on the Markham side, only the provincial one. If you are weighing those two areas, compare total cash to close rather than asking prices — and note that Scarborough's detached homes still sit under the insured cap while Markham's typical detached home does not. The cheaper tax does not automatically make Markham the cheaper purchase.

First-time buyers in Markham claim the Ontario provincial refund of up to $4,000, and the province charges no land transfer tax on the first $368,000 of the price. The Toronto municipal rebate of up to $4,475 does not apply here, because the municipal tax does not either.

The provincial conditions are strict. You must be at least 18; occupy the home as your principal residence within nine months of the transfer; and never have owned a home or any interest in one anywhere in the world. If you have a spouse, your spouse must never have owned a home anywhere in the world while married to you — if they have, neither of you qualifies. You must be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, or become one within 18 months of the transfer, and apply within 18 months of registration.

Markham has one of the highest proportions of foreign-born residents of any city in Canada, and that worldwide ownership test is the clause that most often settles eligibility here. Property held or part-owned in another country counts. The new to Canada mortgage page covers the lender side.

Renewing or refinancing in Markham

Markham owners who bought a decade or more ago are holding significant equity. Most lenders cap a refinance at 80% of the appraised value as standard practice, which is the practical ceiling — whether you refinance, open a HELOC, or fold higher-interest balances into the mortgage through debt consolidation. A refinance is always stress-tested at the greater of your contract rate plus 2% or 5.25%.

At renewal, the position is better than most people assume. OSFI does not expect lenders to apply the minimum qualifying rate to an uninsured straight switch — same loan amount, same remaining amortization, no new money — so moving to a different lender often does not mean re-qualifying. Change the amount or the amortization and the exemption disappears. The switch versus refinance guide sets out which route serves which goal.

If you are thinking about breaking your term early, the penalty is normally the higher of three months' interest or the interest rate differential, and which of those applies — along with how the differential is calculated — depends entirely on your lender's method and your contract. I will read the commitment before telling you a figure.