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Moving DND workers into the former Nortel site has been a slow-motion process, but hundreds are now working on site with the full 8,500 expected by 2020 or thereabouts.

It’s no coincidence that fully half of the 14 real estate districts reporting the strongest growth in the price of single family homes lie just to the east of the new DND headquarters. In the Woodroffe district for instance, bounded on the west by the Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway and on the east by Woodroffe Avenue, the benchmark price in August was $426,200, up 15.4 per cent compared to a year earlier.

Benchmark prices, developed by the board and other regional agencies, are based on an index that reflects multiple housing characteristics such as roof type, number of bathrooms and age of the property, and offers a more consistent view of underlying trends.

The fact that relatively few houses are up for sale is also pushing up prices in the west end.

“DND has certainly played a role but low inventories mean there are many cases of multiple offers,” said Kevin Grimes, broker of record and owner of Re/Max Affiliates Realty Ltd. “That can cause a bigger price jump,” he added.

The strongest pocket for gains in resale values in August was directly north of the Ottawa International Airport and east of the Rideau River. In Hunt Club-Windsor Park, the benchmark price for single family homes surged 20 per cent compared to a year earlier to reach $456,600. Nearby districts Mooney’s Bay-Carleton Square and Billings Bridge-Riverside saw house price gains of 17.3 per cent and 14.6 per cent for respective benchmark values of $478,900 and $458,700.