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The benchmark price, developed by the Ottawa Real Estate Board and other regional agencies, differs from average and median prices in that it also tracks housing characteristics such as age of property, number of bathrooms and type of roof. This permits the creation of an index on which the benchmark price is based, and a more consistent view of underlying trends in the housing market.

Nevertheless, while house prices overall have been tracking up slowly, this is less true of districts now favoured by older millennials — those born in the mid-1970s to mid-1980s.

A Citizen analysis of 45 real estate districts across the city reveals that, over the past five years, homebuyers have been prepared to pay significantly bigger increases for properties in the west and south, and relatively less for homes downtown and in the east.

Consider what’s been happening just west of the downtown core, in a corridor that stretches from Bronson Avenue to Churchill Avenue along the Ottawa River. The area has long been a haven for government workers and professionals, but the coming expansion of light rail transit and likely development of LeBreton Flats has given the district extra cachet.

In the real estate districts known as Hintonburg/West Centretown, Ottawa West/Tunney’s Pasture and Westboro/Hampton Park, prices for single-family homes over the past five years have jumped 27 per cent, 21 per cent and 19 per cent, respectively. These were the biggest gains in Ottawa, roughly double that of the city as a whole.