Canadian home prices rose modestly in January, paced by gains for the Eastern Canadian metropolitan areas of Hamilton and Montreal, data showed on Thursday.

The Teranet-National Bank Composite House Price Index, which measures changes for repeat sales of single-family homes, showed prices rose 0.1% in January.

It was “a so-so showing for a month of January,” said Marc Pinsonneault, a senior economist at National Bank of Canada.

The index has fallen in January in only three of the past 10 years, Pinsonneault said.

The metropolitan area of Hamilton had a gain of 0.8%, while Montreal was up 0.5%. Six of the 11 areas in the composite index rose.

Compared with the same month a year ago, the index climbed 2.1%, driven by gains in Eastern Canada, with the pace accelerating for the sixth straight month.

On Tuesday, Canada announced a change to a three-year-old financial stress test designed to reduce risky mortgage lending, potentially stimulating housing markets.