The figure at the top of a Washington report is the Office of Tax and Revenue's assessed value for the tax lot, split into land and improvement, from the Integrated Tax System Public Extract.
It is not a valuation
It is the District's own figure for tax purposes. It is not an appraisal, not an asking price, and not what the building would sell for. It is also not anchored to the last sale the way a California roll is. Nothing here freezes an assessment at its last transfer, and the District reassesses annually.
The prior year is the useful half
Because the roll carries both years, the report can show movement rather than a level. 1350 Pennsylvania Avenue NW is assessed at $172,412,950 against a prior $171,965,420, a rise of 0.3 per cent. A lot that jumped forty per cent in a year is worth asking about; a single number never tells you that happened.
The sale price, where there is one
The roll carries a sale date and amount for many lots. Where it does, the report shows it, and it is a recorded price rather than an estimate. A lot with no sale recorded is a lot the roll has no transfer for, which is common for government and institutional land and is not the same as never having changed hands.