OTTAWA, March 14 (Xinhua) -- Canadian housing prices fell 0.1 percent in February after two consecutive months of gains due to falls in Toronto and a number of other cities, according to Canada's Teranet-National Bank Composite House Price Index Wednesday.

The index measured changes for repeat sales of single-family homes and showed prices were 0.1 percent down last month compared to January 2018.

It was the first February decline since 2013. The index was up in only three of the 11 big city markets surveyed in the country, the fewest since October 2014.

The price rise also continued to decelerate on an annual basis. Housing prices jumped 7.5 percent compared to same period of last year, the smallest annual increase since March 2016.

On a monthly basis, prices declined in seven out of the 11 cities surveyed in the country, including a 0.1 percent decline in Toronto.

Housing sales in Toronto , the country's largest city, have been dampened by tighter mortgages rules and by the moves taken by the Ontario provincial government last year to try to cool the housing market.

For Vancouver it was the 12th rise in 14 months, taking its index to a new record. However, this market's raw index fell 1.3 percent in the month, a fall coinciding with a cooling of home sales as reported by the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver.

Economic experts are reportedly watching how Canada's housing market adjusts to the tighter lending rules and local government regulations that have come as the Bank of Canada is to raise interest rates.