- Howard Lutnick, whom Trump tapped for Commerce secretary, purchased a $25 million home; and Scott Bessent, whom Trump chose for Treasury secretary, is on the hunt, according to the Wall Street Journal.
President Donald Trump compiled his ideal cabinet: an ultrawealthy one. If all his nominees are confirmed, their combined wealth could be more than $20 billion on paper, New York magazine estimated earlier. Oh, and that excludes the richest man in the world, who appears to have the president’s ear: Elon Musk.
It seems some of them want to be—or need to be—near their chief who has left his Florida base of Mar-a-Lago and returned to the White House, so they’re snatching up multimillion-dollar homes in Washington, D.C., fit for the elite, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Cantor Fitzgerald chief executive Howard Lutnick, whom Trump tapped for Commerce secretary, purchased a 16,250-square-foot home in Foxfall from a Fox News anchor for $25 million in December. It set a record for the D.C. area, the Journal reported.
Then there’s his pick for Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent. The hedge fund manager is looking for a lavish home, people familiar told the Journal. Plus, investor John Phelan, Trump’s choice for Navy secretary, is on the hunt.
Elected officials with some money to spend are putting down roots as well. Republican Senator David McCormick, a former Bridgewater executive, bought a house in Georgetown for $10.5 million, the Journal reported, citing people familiar.
Representatives for Lutnick, Bessent, Phelan, and McCormick did not immediately respond to Fortune’s request for comment.
Local real estate agents are apparently calling it the “Trump bump.”
In November and December, there were 20 sales above $5 million in the D.C. metropolitan area, according to the Journal, which cited data from Bright MLS. That is up from 10 in the same months the year before and one in 2016. Not to mention, so far this month there have been seven sales above that $5 million mark.
To be clear, home prices across the country have soared in recent years. Zillow put the average home value in D.C. at about $604,000—but these aren’t your average Americans.
Axios previously estimated Lutnick’s personal net worth at $2 billion. Bessent recently disclosed assets worth at least $521 million, including an estate in the Bahamas worth anywhere between $5 million and $25 million (which provides a rental income of $50,001 to $100,000), and a home in North Carolina worth somewhere between $5 million and $25 million.
Brokers told the Journal that deals on pricy homes are happening much faster than in prior administrations, including Trump’s first term. But it isn’t only nominees on the hunt: Executives are looking for real estate in D.C. to be near Trump and his people.
“There are a lot of folks who are coming to Washington that aren’t necessarily even politicians, but those that want to be close to the sun,” Sotheby’s Daniel Heider, who handled Lutnick’s deal, told the Journal. “They make 2016 look like amuse-bouche for the main entree, which is this moment in time right now.”
