For the average punter, it would be a no-brainer: historic Kirribilli House and its stunning harbour views. But for Australia’s newly minted 30th Prime Minister, it has been put on the backburner as he attempts to rebuild the Liberal Party and set the tone of a “new generation” team.

A spokesman for Mr Morrison said the 50-year-old devout Christian was “still weighing up” his options on where he’ll relocate with his wife, Jenny, and daughters, Lily and Abbey.

“He’ll make a decision relatively soon,” the spokesman said.

Mr Morrison, the No. 1 ticketholder for NRL club the Cronulla Sharks, is unlikely to stay at his Port Hacking home due to the heightened security presence which comes with the nation’s top job.

If he makes the move to the lower north shore, the Member for Cook would likely adopt the schedule of Australia’s second longest serving Prime Minister, John Winston Howard, who made 111 Kirribilli Ave his family’s main place of residence and stayed at The Lodge during sitting weeks.

Even though the two-storey sandstone national treasure is modest in size, Kirribilli House would be a quantum leap forward in opulence for the Morrisons.

LAND ITSELF ‘WORTH MORE THAN $45M’

Latest estimates put the PM’s official Sydney residence at between $60 million and $70 million, with the land values rocketing up its worth in recent years.

The NSW Valuer General put the land worth of 111 Kirribilli Ave at $14 million on September 6, 2017, an increase of $2.5 million from 2014.

Neighbouring 109 Kirribilli Ave, the location of Admiralty House, was valued at $29.4 million last year, up $4.4 million from three years earlier.

According to one of the nation’s leading real estate agents, the 4.5ha official government precinct is “probably worth more than $45 million” because of its “rareness”.

“Nothing in Sydney has been sold like that. Having that block that close to the city in Kirribilli, it would probably be more valuable than other areas in the eastern suburbs,” said Michael Coombs, the No. 1 McGrath sales agent across metropolitan Sydney.

“It’s probably one of the best houses in Sydney in that location and I think some people would want to be Prime Minister just so they can live there.”

Property records show Mr Morrison bought his single-story, three-bedroom home at Port Hacking for $900,000 in 2009.

It is about 500m from Dolans Bay’s waterfront homes, which are worth up to $4 million, and is set on a 696sq m block with a pool out the back.

It has all the creature comforts for a middle-class suburban family, but it falls well short of the Kirribilli House’s trappings, which include artworks from the National Gallery of Australia and one full-time staff member, aside from the AFP security officers.

TURNBULLS SIT ON $60M POT OF GOLD

Mr Morrison’s predecessor, Malcolm Turnbull, opted to stay at his palatial Point Piper property, estimated to be worth close to $60 million, and used The Lodge when in Canberra.

The NSW Valuer General put the former Wentworth MP’s 1940sq m estate’s land value at $30.3 million last year, a sizeable increase of $6.6 million over the past five years.

With the Prime Minister’s annual salary at $527,852, it meant Mr Turnbull could have put his feet up at home on the eastern suburbs and made significantly more just in the appreciation of his land value.

The Turnbulls bought their property for $5,425,000 in 1994 and had security upgrades when the former journalist, lawyer and merchant banker became Prime Minister. Mr Coombs said the new Prime Minister — who would face a drive of nearly an hour from Kirribilli to watch Sharks home games — would be remiss to pass up the opportunity to live in a “national icon”.

“It’s a pretty spectacular house and if you’re PM and didn’t want to live there you must have something else pretty special,” he said.

Mr Coombs said if Mr Morrison chose not to move in it would likely be for personal reasons, but from what he understood it would be a hard task to pass Kirribilli House up.

“You’re not going to get the chance to live there again unless you’re Prime Minister for a long time,” he said.

“It’s a once-in-a lifetime opportunity the way they turn over Prime Ministers these days.”

JOHN HOWARD’S FAMOUS POWER WALKS

Mr Coombs said he had fond memories of seeing Mr Howard out on his morning walks when he lived at Kirribilli House.

“I do a lot of work around this area and one thing that people did love was always bumping into John Howard as he did his power walks,” Mr Coombs said.

“He’d stop and say hello. That’s something that I thought was nice.

“He didn’t just hide behind the walls. He got out among the community which I think is what people loved about him.”

The Mosman Daily put a range of questions about Kirribilli House last week to the Department of Prime Minister of Cabinet, which is responsible for the heritage-listed property.

However, it refused to provide basic details such as how many functions and meetings had been held at Kirribilli House during Mr Turnbull’s time as PM over the past three years.

The Daily also asked how much taxpayers had forked out for upgrades to the house in recent years, as well as the annual cost of maintaining the property.

A department spokesman said cost breakdowns of Kirribilli House was “not the sort of thing we do for a media inquiry”.

CURRY DISH NAMED AFTER SCOMO

Should the curry-loving Prime Minister indeed choose to move to Kirribilli, he need look no further for his favourite new restaurant.

Grace of India was a favourite of John Howard, who regularly patronised the Indian restaurant and even had food delivered right to Kirribilli House.

Grace of India’s Inderpreet Singh said if the PM made the big move, he would name a dish after him — ‘the Scott Morrison curry’.

It would have to be a masala mix meant to invoke longevity, hope and some sort of prosperity for Australia, Mr Singh said.

While that’s a lot of pressure riding on a curry, “I’m sure we can do it,” he said.

Mr Morrison was featured on the ABC’s Kitchen Cabinet program in 2015 with Annabel Crabb.

In it, he prepared a Sri Lankan fish curry, chapattis and samosas, or — as his staff call them — ScoMosas.

He says he takes over the kitchen on Saturday nights at home to whip up his favourite curry dishes.

ORDER IN THE HOUSE

THE origins of Kirribilli House date back to the mid-1850s when German-born merchant Adolphus Frederic Feez bought land at the tip of Kirribilli Point for 200 pounds.

According to government records, the architect built the Victorian Rustic Gothic-style house by 1858 when he sold the property to Esther Hughes for 3000 pounds.

In 1919, it was purchased by solicitor Arthur Wigram Allen, who planned to subdivide the land. However, after public backlash, then-Prime Minister Billy Hughes acquired the property for the Commonwealth government in 1920, making Allen the last private land owner of Kirribilli House.

The now-Commonwealth and state heritage-listed Kirribilli House was used by staff of the Governor-General until 1930, due to its proximity to Admiralty House, after which it was leased to various tenants until 1953.

In 1956, it was set aside for the Commonwealth’s overseas guests and for use by the Prime Minister.

Major restoration works were carried out in 1957 and the garden was redesigned by Prof E.G. Waterhouse. In November of that year the house received its first overseas guest, the Prime Minister of Japan.

Since then various Australian Prime Ministers have used it as their Sydney residence, with only Tony Abbott (2013-15) and his mentor, John Howard (1996-2007), making it their primary family home.

It is a relatively small, 300sq m two-storey stone house with a multi-gabled slate roof, decorative timber bargeboards and chimneys and steep pitches to the gables. The six-pane sash windows have louvred shutters.

Located at the far eastern end of Kirribilli Ave, it reflects the lifestyle of wealthy Sydneysiders in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.