Bloomberg via Getty Images The city skyline is seen from an apartment building under construction in Toronto on July 10.

After years of frenzied activity, Canada's housing markets are calming down — so much so that Toronto has gone from being the world's hottest residential market to one of its weakest. Canada's largest city tumbled to 137th place, out of 150 cities, in real estate consultancy Knight Frank's residential cities index for the second quarter of 2018, with the city recording a 2.8-per-cent decline in house prices. It had placed first a year earlier, with 29.3 per cent year-on-year price growth. Nearby Hamilton — which had seen a housing boom as Torontonians flocked to its lower house prices — dropped to 128th place, from third a year earlier.

HuffPost Canada Toronto is the coldest major housing market in Canada, according to Knight Frank.

"Tax changes targeting foreign buyers or higher stamp duty (Vancouver, Toronto, Hong Kong) has led to slower growth at the luxury end of the market," Knight Frank said in the report issued last week. But Vancouver improved its ranking, rising to 10th place in the world, from 52nd a year earlier. Still, it was largely cities in eastern and central Canada that showed improvement, including Ottawa, Montreal and Halifax. Watch: A 200-square-foot apartment in Toronto is for rent for $1,400-plus (story continues below)

There are "some deep divergences" in Canada's housing markets, Bank of Montreal chief economist Doug Porter wrote in a client note Monday, "with one emerging theme a clear split between ongoing weakness in the west and real pockets of strength in the east." Worldwide, Asian cities are now dominating the tops of the rankings, with Ahmedabad, India, in first place.

Knight Frank Asia dominates the latest rankings from Knight Frank's global residential cities index.