Unionville vs Cornell, Markham: Prices, GO Access, Heritage Rules and Everyday Life Compared

Verified October 23, 2026. Community prices from TRREB’s Q2 2026 Community Market Report for Markham, citywide prices from TRREB’s September 2026 Market Watch, GO station details from Metrolinx, heritage rules from the City of Markham and the Province of Ontario, and the 2026 tax rate from our GTA property tax guide.

The short answer: Unionville and Cornell sold at almost the same average price in TRREB’s Q2 2026 report: $988,479 in Unionville and $956,848 in Cornell, for all home types combined. The difference is in what you are buying into. Unionville is a village from the 1790s that Markham grew around, with a heritage Main Street, Toogood Pond and its own GO train station on the Stouffville line. Cornell is a planned community designed in 1994 and built from 1997 on new urbanist lines, with homes on a street grid, rear garages, Markham Stouffville Hospital and a large community centre, and a bus terminal instead of a train station. The two markets also behaved differently this spring: Cornell had fewer homes for sale relative to sales, and its homes sold a little faster.

At a glance

Averages cover all home types sold between April and June 2026, from TRREB’s community report. They mix detached houses, semis, townhouses and condos, so treat them as a starting point, not a value for any one home. The tax rate is Markham’s total 2026 residential rate, applied to the MPAC assessed value, and it is the same in both communities.

Where Unionville and Cornell are

Unionville is in central Markham, centred on Highway 7 and Kennedy Road. The old village sits along Main Street Unionville, about 2 km northeast of Downtown Markham and 2 km west of Markham Village. Highway 407 runs just to the south and Highway 404 lies to the west.

Cornell is in the northeast corner of the city. It runs from Highway 407 in the south to 16th Avenue in the north, and from Ninth Line in the west to Donald Cousens Parkway in the east.

A point that matters when you read market data: TRREB’s Unionville community covers far more than the heritage village on Main Street. In Q2 2026 it recorded 159 sales, 96 of them townhouses, which tells you most of those sales were in newer subdivisions rather than century homes. A listing described as “Unionville” may be a 19th century house near Toogood Pond or a 2010s townhouse, and the price gap between the two is large. Cornell is easier to read: TRREB reports it as a single community.

An old village and a planned town

Unionville: a mill village from 1794

William Berczy brought the first settlers to Markham Township in 1794, families from Germany who came by way of New York State. The farms around Kennedy Road grew into a village, and its name comes from Union Mills, which Ira Allen White built in 1839. Toogood Pond began as a mill pond, made by flooding part of Bruce Creek to power a grist mill in the 1840s.

Main Street Unionville started as a laneway to the first grist mill and was once part of Kennedy Road. When the province planned to widen it into a four-lane road, residents organized the first Unionville Festival in 1969 to raise money and awareness against the plan. The festival still runs on the first weekend of June. The street’s look also made it a stand-in for the fictional Stars Hollow in the first season of Gilmore Girls.

Cornell: designed in 1994

Cornell’s land was settled by the Reesor family in the 1800s. The modern community was conceived by Markham in the early 1990s and designed in 1994 by Duany Plater-Zyberk and Associates, the firm led by Andres Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, two of the best-known names in new urbanism. Building began in 1997, and the name Cornell, chosen in 1999, honours William C. Cornell, who came to the area from Rhode Island in 1799.

The idea was to build a suburb that worked more like an old town: a grid of streets, medium density homes, garages at the rear, a mix of townhouses, semis and detached houses, central amenities within walking distance and an on-street retail corridor rather than a mall. A 2017 York University study of Cornell found that the walkable streets and mix of housing were achieved, while the mixed-use goal largely was not. Cornell had 9,880 residents in 2011, or 12,058 including Cornell North. Cornell Village, between Highway 7 and 16th Avenue, is built out. South Cornell, south of Highway 7, began redevelopment in 2022.

Home prices and what sells

TRREB publishes quarterly figures for each Markham community. These are the latest, for April to June 2026, with the first quarter for comparison.

Two things stand out. First, Cornell was slightly ahead in the first quarter and slightly behind in the second, so the averages are effectively tied. Second, look at the medians. Unionville’s median of $735,000 is about $250,000 below its average. That gap means a large share of Unionville sales were lower priced homes, with a smaller number of expensive detached houses pulling the average up. In Cornell the median and average are close together, which reflects a more even spread of prices.

The mix of homes sold explains much of this. TRREB’s community report counts sales by home type:

Townhouses made up about 64 per cent of Unionville’s sales and 57 per cent of Cornell’s. The difference is the type: Unionville’s were almost all freehold, while Cornell’s were split evenly between freehold and condo townhouses. That matters for monthly costs, because a condo townhouse comes with a condo fee and a freehold one usually does not. Our guide to types of houses in Canada explains the difference. Detached houses were about 28 per cent of sales in Unionville and 22 per cent in Cornell.

The community report text does not tie each price clearly to a home type, so we have not quoted community prices by type. TRREB does publish monthly prices by type for Markham as a whole:

Markham’s September average of $1,125,353 was $118,944 above the $1,006,409 average across TRREB’s whole market area. TRREB does not publish monthly figures for Unionville or Cornell. For the wider market, see our September 2026 market report, and for the rest of the city, our Markham real estate guide.

How fast homes are selling

The sales to new listings ratio is our calculation from TRREB’s figures: sales divided by new listings. Cornell’s 47 per cent means roughly one sale for every two new listings. Unionville’s 36 per cent means buyers there had more homes to choose from relative to sales. Neither number is extreme, and both communities sold close to asking price on average. For a buyer, the practical point is that Unionville gave more room to compare homes and negotiate this spring, while well priced homes in Cornell moved a few days faster.

Getting around

Unionville

• GO train: Unionville GO is on the Stouffville line, next to the Stiver Mill on Main Street. Metrolinx says major upgrades there are complete: a second track and a turnaround track so trains can run both ways, a new island platform, pedestrian tunnels with elevators and about 300 new parking spaces. Metrolinx says all-day, two-way service on the line will be introduced over the next several years. It has not published a date.
• Bus: York Region Transit and Viva Purple run along Highway 7.
• Highways: Highway 407 is just south and Highway 404 is to the west.

Cornell

• No GO train station: the nearest Stouffville line stations are to the west. Mount Joy GO, at Markham Road and Bur Oak Avenue, opened in 2002 and has 1,333 parking spaces.
• Cornell Terminal: serves York Region Transit, Viva and GO buses. GO bus routes 52 and 56 run from Oshawa toward the Highway 407 Bus Terminal and Oakville. Viva Purple also serves the area, and YRT routes run along Highway 7, Ninth Line, 16th Avenue and Bur Oak Avenue.
• Highways: Highway 407 forms Cornell’s southern edge, with interchanges at Ninth Line and Donald Cousens Parkway.

Highway 407 is a toll road, so add tolls to your budget if it will be your daily route. Before you rely on the train, check the current Stouffville line timetable for your hours. We have not stated travel times because they vary by trip and time of day. Our guide to living near a GO station explains the difference between all-day and rush-hour service and what it can mean for resale.

Heritage rules in old Unionville

The centre of old Unionville is a heritage conservation district under Part V of the Ontario Heritage Act. Its district plan went to Markham Council in September 1997, and the Ontario Municipal Board approved the district boundary on January 6, 1998. The district covers the historic commercial core along Main Street and the residential streets next to it. Markham has three other heritage districts: Thornhill, Markham Village and Buttonville. Cornell is not one of them.

The City of Markham says owners in a heritage district need approval for exterior alterations, new construction and demolition. Applications are handled as Minor or Major Heritage Permits. Heritage staff can approve alterations and new construction that follow the district plan’s policies and guidelines, and demolition requests go to Council. Under the provincial rules, interior work is generally exempt, council has 90 days after it serves notice that an application is received to grant or refuse the permit, and a refusal can be appealed to the Ontario Land Tribunal.

If you are buying on or near Main Street Unionville and plan to add on, replace windows, change the front of the house or rebuild, talk to the City’s heritage staff before you firm up an offer, and build the review into your timeline. Markham also offers financial programs for designated heritage properties; ask staff what applies to the home you are looking at. The district covers the old village, not the wider Unionville area, so most Unionville homes sold in the market data are outside it.

Everyday landmarks

Cornell’s community centre sits along the east edge of Markham Stouffville Hospital, part of Oak Valley Health. Its facilities include a therapy pool, a water slide, a splash pad and an indoor playground. In Unionville, the Stiver Mill was built for Charles and Francis Stiver, who ran it as Stiver Brothers until 1968; the town bought the site in 1993.

Property tax and land transfer tax

Unionville and Cornell are both in the City of Markham, so the tax rules are the same.

• Property tax: Markham’s 2026 residential rate is 0.722889 per cent of the MPAC assessed value, about $723 for every $100,000 of assessment, or $3,614 on a $500,000 assessment. Assessments are still based on 2016 values, so do not apply the rate to the purchase price. Ask for the seller’s actual tax bill, and compare cities in our GTA property tax guide.
• Land transfer tax: Markham has no municipal land transfer tax, so buyers pay only the Ontario tax. At Unionville’s Q2 average of $988,479, that is $16,244.58. At Cornell’s average of $956,848, it is $15,611.96. At Markham’s September detached average of $1,534,139, it is $27,157.78. First-time buyers can get a refund of up to $4,000. Run your own price through our land transfer tax calculator.
• Condo fees: with 21 of Cornell’s 74 Q2 sales being condo townhouses, check the monthly fee and the reserve fund on any condo townhouse you consider. Fees are not published by community, so ask for the status certificate.

These figures are examples, not tax advice. Your lawyer will confirm the exact amounts at closing.

Which one fits your plans?

Both communities have a wide range of homes at similar average prices, so the decision usually comes down to how you travel and the kind of house and street you want.

• If you commute downtown by train, Unionville GO is the clear advantage. Check the Stouffville line timetable for your hours first.
• If you drive east or across the region, Cornell sits right on Highway 407, with access at Ninth Line and Donald Cousens Parkway.
• If you want a century home near a village main street, Unionville has one. Expect heritage review for exterior changes inside the district.
• If you like newer homes on a walkable grid, with garages at the rear and a mix of home types on each street, that is how Cornell was designed.
• If you want a freehold townhouse, Unionville had far more sales of them this spring. In Cornell, many townhouses are condo townhouses, so check the fees.
• If you value a big recreation centre and the hospital close by, Cornell has both side by side.
• If price is the deciding factor, compare recent sales of the same home type on specific streets. The community averages are too close, and too mixed, to settle it.

If you are comparing homes in Unionville and Cornell, our team can pull recent sales of similar homes in each. Start your home search, or if you own in either community and want to know what your home is worth, request a free home evaluation. More city guides are on our GTA cities hub, including our comparison of Maple and Woodbridge in Vaughan.

FAQ

Sources

• Toronto Regional Real Estate Board, Community Market Report, Markham, Q2 2026 (sales, sales by home type, average and median prices, new and active listings, sale to list ratio and days on market)
• Toronto Regional Real Estate Board, Community Market Report, Markham, Q1 2026 (first quarter comparison)
• Toronto Regional Real Estate Board, Market Watch, September 2026 (City of Markham by home type; TRREB market area average)
• Metrolinx, Stouffville Line GO Expansion: Unionville (completed upgrades and future all-day, two-way service)
• City of Markham, Heritage Districts (districts, permit approvals) and Unionville Heritage Conservation District Plan overview (1997 plan, January 6, 1998 boundary approval)
• Government of Ontario, Heritage conservation districts: managing the district (permits, interior work, 90-day decision, appeals)
• City of Markham, Cornell Community Centre and Library (address, facilities, location beside the hospital)
• Victoria Lindsay Moore, York University, Exploring the New Urbanist Legacy in Cornell, Markham (2017)
• Wikipedia, Cornell, Markham (boundaries, 1994 design, 1997 start, naming, 2011 population, parks, Cornell Terminal routes, South Cornell) and Mount Joy GO Station
• Wikipedia, Unionville, Ontario (1794 settlement, Union Mills, Toogood Pond, Main Street, Stiver Mill, Varley Art Gallery, Unionville Festival)
• Local Toronto, GTA property tax rates 2026 (Markham total residential rate)

Featured image: illustration of a row of attached townhouses from the Local Toronto media library. It is an illustration, not a photo of Unionville, Cornell or any real property.

This guide is general information, not legal, tax or planning advice. Prices are averages and are not an appraisal of any home.

Local Toronto, HomeLife Landmark Realty Inc., Brokerage.