While working in the Clinton White House, Stephanopoulos lived on two floors of a cozy Dupont Circle townhouse on Connecticut Avenue, above what is now Marvelous Market. He bought the three-story townhouse for $835,000 and rented the ground-level retail space to a now-defunct eyeglass store called Eye Gotcha.

In 1997, the same year he joined ABC as a news analyst for This Week, he sold the townhouse for $1,050,000. He has bought himself a more expensive house each time he’s been promoted at ABC.

In 2002, the year Stephanopoulos began anchoring This Week, he bought a 4,400-square-foot townhouse on 28th Street in Georgetown for $2 million.

A few months after his December 2005 promotion to chief Washington correspondent, he unloaded that place for $2,850,000. He and his wife, Ali Wentworth, the Washington debutante turned comic actress, then paid $5.2 million for a five-bedroom, seven-bath house just around the corner. The century-old Georgian has six fireplaces, “gourmet cook’s kitchen,” elevator, and three-car garage.

Real-estate agents take note: If he ever gets moved up to bureau chief, Stephanopoulos is on course to pay at least $10 million for his next place.