From No.11 to No.10

Gordon should be treasuring his move next door – No.10 Downing Street could have a price tag of a cool £2.75million if put up for sale, reveals new research by personal finance website Fool.co.uk.

The comparative study of terraced house prices in Downing Streets across the UK highlights the soaring price of properties during Labour’s decade in power.

Indeed, if Blair had been lucky enough to own No 10., he could have made up to £755,000 profit in his last term alone. But based on the PM’s wages, the property would be well beyond his reach - if Gordon Brown was required to actually buy No.10 Downing Street today, the stamp duty alone might set him back £110,000.

While Gordon Brown’s modest terrace house in Downing Street SW1 may be worth a fortune, the popularity and value of terraced houses in other Downing Streets across the country haven’t fared as well, showcasing the growing disparity in property prices across the UK:

Sutton-in-ashfield boasts the cheapest terraced house in a Downing Street in the country – one sold earlier this year for less than £50,000…but move to Farnham and you’ll be spending five times that

Terraced houses in Downing Street Ashton-under-lyne, an historic village which benefits from the new M60, have seen the biggest growth in prices over the last seven years with an increase in value of nearly £150,000

But they don’t come on the market often - only four sales in that period make Ashton-under-lyne the slowest Downing Street house market

While Downing Street in Chippenham is the most buoyant with 34 sales since 2000
Fool.co.uk’s best all-round investment is Downing Street Chippenham, which benefits from regular sales and a healthy growth in price – in just four years you could expect to make almost £60,000.

According to David Kuo, Head of Personal Finance at Fool.co.uk: “Mr. Brown can be thankful that No. 10 Downing Street comes with the job because his mortgage payments would devour four-fifths of his salary.

“But you can guarantee that if prudent Mr. Brown had to buy No. 10, he would have shopped around for the best mortgage deal. In his case, finding the right mortgage could shave thousands of pounds in unnecessary payments. Failure to do so is tantamount to running a country without checking if the sums in the Budget add up!”

Fool.co.uk’s top tips 5 tips for choosing the right mortgage:

Get an understanding of interest-only, capped-rate, discount-rate and fixed-rate mortgages.

Use a mortgage calculator to get a rough idea about how much your mortgage will cost.

Use a fee-free mortgage broker to help you search the entire market.

Ask how much you are allowed to overpay your mortgage by.

Don’t forget to consider extra mortgage costs such application fees, valuation and survey fees, solicitors’ fees.