A buyer touring both buildings on the same afternoon usually walks away with the wrong idea. They pull up the fee sheets side by side, see one number higher than the other, and cross that building off the list before they've asked what the number actually pays for. It's an easy mistake to make on the Highway 7 and Bullock Drive corridor in Markham, where two Tridel-built complexes sit close enough to share a mailbox and a mall, yet price out in a way that contradicts what the fee sheets suggest.
The building with the higher maintenance fee per square foot is the cheaper building to buy into. The one with the lower fee carries the higher price tag. Once you follow the math instead of the sticker, the comparison flips.
Here's how the two complexes actually stack up, using the trailing twelve months of sales data for each building:
| Building | Maintenance fee (per sqft) | Average sale price (per sqft) | Typical unit size range |
|---|---|---|---|
| Walden Pond II, 25 Austin Drive | $1.02 | $474 (bottom 25% for the area) | 1,099 to 2,050 sqft |
| The Hunt Club, 610 Bullock Drive | $0.97 | $494 over the trailing 12 months, $517.30 year-to-date in 2026 | 998 to 4,000 sqft |
Both fees sit well above the Markham-area condo average of roughly $0.67 per square foot. But Walden Pond, the one carrying the heavier fee, is also the one trading at the lower cost per square foot. A buyer chasing the smaller fee number at The Hunt Club ends up paying more per square foot to get it, and paying it at a price that's climbed to over $1,050,000 for a typical two-bedroom this year. The fee sheet and the purchase price are answering two different questions, and a buyer who only reads one of them is comparing half a transaction.
The reason Walden Pond's fee runs high isn't overhead. It's bundling. Both 55 Austin Drive and 25 Austin Drive fold heat, hydro, water, basic cable, central air conditioning, building insurance, common element maintenance, 24-hour gatehouse security, and parking into the monthly charge. Owners at 55 Austin Drive get high-speed internet included as well, a line item 25 Austin Drive owners still pay separately.
That means a chunk of what looks like a management fee is actually a utility bill you'd otherwise be paying to a separate provider every month, regardless of which building you owned. Strip those inclusions out and compare what's left, and the gap between Walden Pond's fee and the area average shrinks considerably. This is the detail a fee-only comparison misses entirely, and it's why the building with the "worse" number on paper is quietly the better buy on price.
None of this means The Hunt Club is a poor choice. It means the value there shows up in a different column. Units at 610 Bullock Drive are currently selling for an average of 6.32% below list price, with a median 72 days on market and a low likelihood of drawing competing offers. That's real negotiating room for a buyer willing to make an offer and wait it out, room that Walden Pond's tighter, smaller-unit market doesn't currently offer in the same way.
The premium buys something too. The Hunt Club's larger unit sizes, up to 4,000 square feet in some layouts, and its fuller amenity package, including a 24-hour concierge, indoor and outdoor pools, and a tennis court, sit at a different scale than Walden Pond's suites. A buyer comparing the two isn't just comparing fees and price per square foot. They're comparing a leaner, better-value building against a larger, resort-style one that currently rewards patience at the negotiating table.
Location isn't the variable here, which is what makes the comparison useful. Owners in both buildings walk to the same stretch of daily life:
With the neighborhood held constant, whatever separates these two buildings on a spreadsheet comes down to building age, unit mix, and how each condo corporation structures its fees, not which one happens to sit closer to the action. That's a cleaner comparison than most buyers get when shopping across Markham's condo stock.
There's a longer-horizon variable worth tracking if you're weighing either building as a hold rather than a quick flip. Cadillac Fairview has filed a planning application for the CF Markville Shopping Centre site itself, the same retail anchor both Walden Pond and The Hunt Club residents walk to for groceries and errands. Redevelopment applications of that scale typically move through municipal approvals over several years, so this isn't a near-term catalyst for either building's resale value. It is, however, the kind of shift that changes what "walkable to the mall" means a decade from now, and it's worth asking your agent for an update on before you assume the current amenity map holds indefinitely.
The financing backdrop is holding steady for now, which matters when you're deciding how much weight to put on fee inclusions versus purchase price. The Bank of Canada held its policy rate at 2.25% on July 15, 2026, its sixth consecutive hold, keeping the prime rate at 4.45%. A Reuters survey of economists published August 28, 2026 found the consensus expects another hold at the September 2 decision, with rates likely staying put through at least the third quarter of 2027.
That stability means the comparison in this post isn't going to be rewritten by a sudden rate move in either direction. The fee-versus-price math above is the lever a buyer actually controls right now, not a bet on where borrowing costs land next quarter.
Does a higher maintenance fee always mean the better deal? No. It means you need to check what's bundled before assuming a lower fee is cheaper overall. In this case, the higher fee comes with a lower purchase price per square foot, but that won't hold true for every building comparison you run.
Will Walden Pond's fees keep climbing faster than The Hunt Club's? Neither building's future fee trajectory is something a listing sheet can answer. That comes down to each condo corporation's reserve fund study and planned capital projects. Before you commit, ask for the current status certificate and reserve fund study for each building, since that's the only document that shows whether a fee increase or special assessment is already on the horizon.
Should I wait for the CF Markville redevelopment before buying nearby? Not if you're buying on a normal timeline. Planning applications of this size can take years to clear approvals, and buyers waiting on a speculative future amenity often miss the window where today's pricing and negotiating room, like what's currently available at The Hunt Club, still apply.
If you're weighing these two buildings, or trying to figure out which corner of the Highway 7 corridor actually fits your budget once the fee inclusions are accounted for, it helps to run the numbers on your specific unit size rather than the building average. You can review current listings for Walden Pond and The Hunt Club, or read our closer look at whether Hunt Club's fees are worth it for the building-specific breakdown. Walker Parker Real Estate has spent years in these two buildings and the corridor between them. Book a Consultation and we'll walk through your specific budget against both buildings' actual numbers, not just the fee sheet.
Walker Parker Real Estate sweats the big stuff, the small stuff, and everything in between, and believes your Buying or Selling experience should be as seamless as possible from start to finish. We ensure your best interests are being served at all times, and are deeply invested in every step of your real estate journey, because you deserve it. Get in touch - we would love to chat!