While buying a house in Toronto is notoriously expensive, the real estate market might soften up for the rest of the year (and actually give prospective homebuyers a chance to land their dream homes, too).

Royal LePage dropped its House Price Survey with its updated home price forecast for the rest of the year, following the "more aggressive than expected interest rate hikes by the Bank of Canada." Across the country, the real estate company predicts that houses will go up by 5% compared to last year, with home prices in the GTA staying "relatively flat."

"We have significantly reduced our outlook for 2022, however home prices are still forecast to end the year higher than 2021 and well above pre-pandemic norms," president and CEO of Royal LePage, Phil Soper, said in the survey.

"Following record price gains across the country, numerous markets in southern Ontario and parts of Greater Vancouver — specifically those that saw some of the highest price appreciation over the last two years — experienced a second quarter decline."

So what exactly does this mean for the GTA?

While average home prices jumped on a year-over-year basis, prices actually dropped from what they were at the start of the year.

"On a quarterly basis, the aggregate price of a home in the GTA decreased 8.1 per cent in the second quarter, after reaching year-over-year highs in Q1," the survey reads.

This is the first time the GTA's home prices have dropped over a quarter since the start of 2018.

"The city of Toronto and the greater region, along with many secondary cities in the Golden Horseshoe, have seen housing demand slow in recent months as many buyers take a step back in an attempt to time the market," COO of Royal LePage Real Estate Services Ltd., Karen Yolevski, said.

"For the first time since the start of the pandemic, the real estate market is experiencing a more normal summer slowdown in activity."

So, first-time homebuyers might actually have a "rare opportunity" to buy into the market, Yolevksi noted.

Houses in the GTA are expected to cost 3.0% more than what they did at the same time last year, which is much lower than what Royal LePage originally predicted. In an earlier release posted in December 2021, Royal LePage forecasted GTA's home prices would rise by 11% by the end of the year to an average of $1,256,500.

Now, average home prices are expected to go for $1,153,394 on the market, which is an over $30,000 price difference from how much houses cost in the GTA at the end of 2021. House prices dropped in Ottawa too, but it looks like it won't be for long.

This article's cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.