Congratulations, Toronto, you’ve finally made it to number one. At least when it comes to house prices. Canada’s largest city saw the fastest pace of house price growth of any major world city in the past year, according to research from analytics firm CoreLogic, carried out for Australia’s Daily Telegraph.

Toronto’s median house price jumped 19 per cent in the past year, beating second-place Sydney, Australia, and third-place Vancouver, which has seen prices slow in the past six months. The survey measures median house prices, a slightly different measure than the average numbers typically provided by Canadian real estate boards. Average prices have been growing even more strongly in Greater Toronto, up by 27.7 per cent in February compared to a year earlier, to $875,983.

A house for sale in Toronto's High Park/Roncesvalles neighbourhood. The Financial Accountability Office of Ontario is forecasting double-digit price declines for Ontario's housing markets. (Photo: Chris So/Toronto Star via Getty Images) Fiscal watchdog says the party’s about to end But if Ontario’s fiscal watchdog is right, the city’s stay at number one will be short-lived: A house price slowdown is in the offing. The Financial Accountability Office of Ontario (FAO), which provides independent advice to the provincial legislature, is forecasting "slightly lower (house) prices" over the next three years. The report also noted there is an elevated risk of a housing correction. In that scenario, it sees house prices declining 10 per cent by 2020, from their 2016 levels. In its worst-case scenario, that becomes a 20-per-cent price decline. The FAO expects “a leveling out in residential investment over the next several years, consistent with a modest decline in housing prices,” but “a sharper housing price correction remains a significant risk, both for the economy and the province’s tax revenues,” it said in its report.