The country’s official head of state’s residence Zhongnanhai complex covers a colossal 3,439,830m2, which means were it to appear for sale on the local Beijing property market it would fetch in excess of an eye-watering £31billion.
The Chinese premier’s extravagant abode more than dwarfs the UK equivalent and Theresa May will certainly want to avoid any games of property top trumps at the 2017 G20 summit in Hamburg next year.
In terms of market worth, the prime ministerial flat in 10 Downing Street ranks just 17th with a value of £5.4million and is actually the second smallest on the list, with only Germany’s Chancellery flat measuring less.
Also at the top end of the rankings, in second place, was South Korea’s Cheong Wa Dae. Nicknamed The Blue House for obvious reasons, this sprawling traditional styled residence would command over £1.1billion on the open market.
The Valuations
The research by, Hatched, took a wide range of factors into consideration when valuing each head of state residence. These included the size of the property, any recent published refurbishment costs and the local city’s average property price per square metre.
The buildings were valued as if they were any other home on the market – no consideration was placed on their historical significance, high profile former owners or their extravagant fixture and fittings.
GDP – Which countries can’t afford their president’s homes
Hatched’s research also considered each country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and looked at the value of each residence as a percentage against this. While China’s premier has the biggest and most expensive house, it is Russia’s Kremlin which takes the top spot for proportion of GDP.
Vladamir Putin’s roomy dwelling is spread over 275,000m2 and would be worth just north of 10 figures, which means were it sold the proceeds would account for 0.9911% of the entire country’s GDP.
Turkey is also overreaching with its leader’s home. Recep Erdoğan’s ostentatious Presidential Complex is 50 times the size of the White House and was rebuilt in 2014 to include luxury marble at £3,000 per m2 giving it a market value of over £522,000,000.
Italy with its Quirinal Palace and Japan’s Kantei also feature toward the top of the GDP percentage rankings. Once again the UK is at the thrifty end of the scale in 18th place, ahead of Germany and just one place behind the USA.
Adam Day, Managing Director at Hatched, commented on the findings: “As the leaders of 20 of the biggest, most powerful and wealthiest countries in the world you would expect their homes to be impressive.
We wanted to see not only who holds the property bragging rights in the G20 but also which leader’s residence would be worth the most on the local market.
As a real estate mogul President-elect, Donald Trump, won’t be too pleased to see his new home is one of the smallest and least valuable in the G20 – especially after he’s left the extravagance of Trump Tower. We’d hate to think that the Japanese prime minister or even his apparent friend Putin would point out that their houses are not only bigger but worth more to Mr President Trump.“
