Obama's New Digs Worth $23M Less Than Last Year
White House not immune to real estate downturn
By SCOTT BRODBECK
Updated 12:45 PM EST, Thu, Jan 8, 2009
President-elect Barack Obama has another motivation to jump start the economy: his new house has lost $23 million in value over the past year.
The White House is worth an estimated $308,058,000, according to real estate Web site Zillow.com. That would make it the most expensive residence in the United States, the company said.
While the White House has lost 7.2 percent of its estimated value in the past year, its value has nearly doubled from the $167,861,500 it was worth in January 2001 when President George W. Bush took office, according to Zillow.
"Were someone to take out a standard 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage on the White House today (assuming 20 percent down and a 6 percent rate), their monthly payment (including principal and interest) would be $1.48 million," Zillow said in a statement. "Even with the Treasury Department’s proposed 4.5 percent rate on 30-year mortgages, a monthly payment would still top $1.25 million."
Based on Zillow's data, a potential buyer would need to pull in $53.3 million in gross income per year to afford a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage on the historic home. That doesn't include the $62 million needed for a 20 percent down payment.
To calculate the White House's potential sale price, Zillow considered its historical value, along with its 55,000 square feet of indoor space, 132 total rooms, 35 bathrooms, 16 bedrooms, three kitchens and 18 acres of premium downtown Washington, D.C., land.
"Obviously the White House will never be for sale, but given the immense amount of public data on this home, we thought it would be fun to crunch the numbers," said Stan Humphries, Zillow’s vice president of data and analytics.
First Published: Jan 8, 2009 12:17 PM EST
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