Former Treasury Secretary Paulson Loses $1 Million on Washington Home Sale

Henry Paulson, former U.S. treasury secretary. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

Henry Paulson, the former U.S.
Treasury secretary, sold his three-bedroom Washington home last
week for about $1 million less than he paid for it near the peak
of the housing market four years ago.

The property sold for $3.25 million after originally being
listed at $4.6 million, according to the website of the broker,
Washington Fine Properties LLC. The asking price was later cut
to $4.15 million.

Paulson, who ran the Treasury during the credit crisis
precipitated by the housing market’s collapse, paid $4.3 million
for the home in August 2006, city property records show.
Washington-area home prices declined 25 percent from the time of
his purchase through October, according to the SP/Case-Shiller
home-price index for the region.

“This is a unique property, singular in its architecture
and interior artistry as well as the splendor of its natural
setting,” according to the broker’s listing. “It offers
comfort, convenience, beauty and exceptional privacy in one of
the area’s premier residential neighborhoods.”

Reuters reported the sale yesterday.

The 2,260-square-foot (210 square-meter) home was on the
market for eight months before its sale on Dec. 21, according to
Redfin, an online real estate brokerage. The house is in the
Massachusetts Avenue Heights neighborhood, near the Washington
National Cathedral
.

The villa-style property was built in 1940 and renovated in
2001. It features a living room with a stone fireplace and
hardwood floors, and a master bath with a cast-iron tub and a
stone shower with glass door, according to the listing.

A voicemail for Paulson left with his assistant wasn’t
immediately returned.

Paulson, 64, served as Treasury Secretary from 2006 to
January 2009, and before that was chairman and chief executive
officer of New York-based Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Brian Louis in Chicago at
blouis1@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Kara Wetzel at
kwetzel@bloomberg.net.

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