Whoever becomes our next Prime Minister will have all the pressures that come with the job but will also enjoy all the benefits, one of these being the official residential digs in Downing Street, now valued at over £4.5m by one property website.
Unlike the rest of us, our next leader will be able to enjoy his property without having to worry about the recently announced hike in stamp duty for £1m+ homes or such mundane things as rent, which would likely run to over £4,250 per week for the 3,800sq ft of prime property in SW1, according to figures from one property website.
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In his short stay so far at Number 10, Gordon Brown hasn’t done much for the value of the property and, in fact, its value has fallen by 9.18% since he took up residence in June 2007, costing the taxpayer more than £460k in value. This is in stark contract to his predecessor Mr Blair who saw its value climb from £1.65m when he took office in 1997 to over £5m when he handed the keys over to Mr Brown, the website has found.
If there is a change in leadership over the next few weeks, Gordon Brown is likely to drop quite a few rungs on the property ladder as house prices in his own constituency of Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath are amongst the lowest in the land at an average of £120,910. Cameron and Clegg will both be keen to upgrade to SW1 from their own constituencies where current values are £289,686 and £219,136 respectively.
