According to Zoopla, 10 Downing Street is now worth £4.5m, which the Prime Minister of the next Government will enjoy without the £4,250 per week rent that would normally go with a 3800 sq ft property in SW1 or the Stamp Duty that a buyer would incur.
But not all Downing Street residents have boosted the property’s value. During Gordon Brown’s term it has fallen 9.18%, while during Tony Blair’s leadership between 1997 and 2007, it rose from £1.65m to over £5m.
Yet, if taxpayers would like greater value for money from the PM’s official residence, one of the other Downing Streets in Britain could prove an option. The most cost-effective Downing Street is in Sutton-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, where the average property price is just £50,853.
David Sheppard, of Perception Finance, said: “Brown was directly responsible for the entire term of New Labour and so helped to boost 10 Downing Street’s value too. It’s an asset to the country. The key question is: who actually owns it?”
