How much do Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner pay in rent?
White House assistant Ivanka Trump and presidential son-in-law adviser Jared Kushner pay $15,000 per month to live in a six-bedroom, 6,780-square-foot home in Kalorama -- one of northwest Washington’s most prestigious neighborhoods.
The price tag was revealed on Monday in a report by The Wall Street Journal. The paper reported in early March that it is owned by Chilean business billionaire Andrónico Luksic.
The Journal calculated that with a $40,000 tax and insurance deduction from the landlord, Kushner and Trump only pay about 2.5 percent of the value of the home in their rent.
According to the Journal, the property’s landlord released documents to the District of Columbia housing department, which revealed details about the rental agreement between Luksic and Kushner and Trump.
White House and Luksic representatives say the home rental emerged initially through “brokers without the two parties ever meeting.”
A mining company controlled by Luksic’s family is currently embroiled in a fight with the federal government. Twin Metals, owned by Antofagasta plc, is suing the U.S. government over a lame-duck Obama administration decision through the Department of Interior to halt mineral exploration from operating near Minnesota’s environmentally fragile Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.
Luksic closed on the Kalorama house on December 22, 2016, and Kushner, Trump and their three children moved in shortly after the inauguration.
The rental agreement arrived on the heels of Luksic’s purchase. And the house was never publicly advertised for rent.
Rodrigo Terré, a personal investment manager for Luksic, told the Journal that the rate of return for the property was reasonable for the owner.
Terri Robinson, who has worked in the real estate market for 47 years in Washington, told CBS News that she thinks there’s nothing unusual about the rental rate for Kushner and Trump.
“I don’t believe it was below market value,” Robinson said. “They [the Kushners] are paying market rate.”
Terré said to the Journal that he expects the market value of the Kalorama house, built in 1923, to increase by a million dollars over time.
Public documents show that the house’s value has fluctuated in the market throughout the years. Between 2007 and 2016, the house’s asking price has wavered from $3 million all the way up to nearly $6 million.
After a hefty 2014 renovation, which lasted about two years, the home’s value increased.
The Obamas are renting a 8,200-square-foot house in the Kalorama just a few blocks away from the Kushners.
Other notable residents in the neighborhood include Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Amazon CEO and Washington Post buyer Jeff Bezos and E Street Band drummer Max Weinberg.