Jim Carrey finally sold his LA home after taking a haircut on the price. (Photo; Daniel Dahler, Sothebys International)
Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck made headlines when they bought their gargantuan Beverly Hills mansion in 2023 for $60.8 million. Who knew it would be a white elephant?
They spent two years shopping for the “perfect family home,” before choosing their 38,000-square-foot home.
The divorcing couple put the house on the market for $68 million last July, then slashed the price by $8 million. But after a year, with still no takers, they pulled it off the market.
You could question why two celebrities would need a 12-bedroom, 24-bathroom house, but you could also argue that in Beverly Hills size matters.
Jen and Ben are far from alone in this snapshot of the July market, according to TopTenRealEstateDeals.com.
Luxury home sales fell 10% in April, the biggest drop in over a decade. Blame stock market volatility and uncertainty over the economy, according to Realtors.
Still, luxury home prices — those generally priced above $1.3 million — continue to rise nationwide, even if some are crashing back to earth.
Los Angeles continues rank No. 1 in the luxury real estate market. Properties in Beverly Hills and Bel Air rank among the most expensive listings nationwide, according to a new Redfin report.
Beverly Hills home prices have jumped 15.8% in 2025 compared to last year, while Bel Air saw an even more dramatic 23.5% year-over-year increase, according to the report.
High mortgage rates don’t seem to be a factor. Most celebs pay cash.
In markets like Beverly Hills, name value can add cache to a property and command higher prices.
Paris Hilton and her venture capitalist husband Carter Reum, paid $63 million for Mark Wahlberg’s former mega-mansion. He sold it in for $50 million a few years ago.
In Jen’s and Ben’s case, their nasty divorce could be having an opposite effect, causing buyers to steer clear because of the bad karma.
If at first you don’t succeed, some celebs pull their houses off the market and relist… and cut the price.
Late rock star Tom Petty, who died in 2017, bought in Malibu in 1998 is coming back to the market at $15.5 million after it failed to sell for $19 million.
The property includes a 10,000-square-foot main home, a guest home, a recording studio, seven bedrooms, a pool and 2.6 acres.
Sometimes persistence — and price cuts — count, as well. Actor Jim Carrey’s LA home in the Brentwood languished on the market for two years. But it finally sold for $19.75 million.
Carrey was originally asking $28 million for the 12,700-square-foot, five-bedroom home set behind huge hedges and private red-brick gates. Jim has relocated to his Hawaii vacation property.
Singer Adam Lambert swallowed a loss on his Hollywood Hills home to unload it. He paid $6.5 million in
n 2018 for a four-bedroom home in the Hollywood Hills, complete with a pool and spa, an outdoor kitchen, a fire pit, and a gym.
Lambert finally sold it for $6.2 million, less than what he paid and quite a bit less than the $7.375 million he was asking.
Los Angeles isn’t the only sluggish market. Former NBA star Tony Parker is making another run at selling his San Antonio, Texas, home for $16.5 million after pulling it from the market. But the 13,297-square-foot home likely will require a special buyer.
The property includes a Texas-sized backyard water park with slides, waterfalls, lazy rivers, and grottos. Add to that a 5,992-square-foot gym, tennis court, greenhouse, and a Jurassic Park-themed entrance.
“My vision was to build something where I can host my family and my friends, and create memories. I like to host, and when my friends come from France, you know it’s a long flight, so I wanted a place where they can come for long stays,” he told The New York Post.
Buying and selling real estate has been a a lucrative side-gig for any number of celebrities. They often mark up prices and make giant-sized profits. Some may call it greed, but it’s how the game works.
Take Maroon Five singer Adam Levine and his supermodel wife Behatit Prinsloo. They paid an eye-popping $52 million in 2022 for a sprawling Montecito house originally built for actor Rob Lowe.
Now, they’re asking $65 million for the 13,316-square-foot Georgian Colonial-style home on 3.4 acres. That’s more than a 20% markup in just three years. They reportedly want to move closer to their childrens’ school.
Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi are also seeking an outsizes profit. They have listed their farmhouse in the United Kingdom for $30 million. The bought the property last year for $20 million, although they reportedly extensively renovated it.
The problem? No room for de Rossi’s horses. “When we decided to live here full time, we knew that Portia couldn’t live without her horses. “We needed a home that had a horse facility and pastures for them,” DeGeneres told People magazine.
Paying eight-figures for a property then millions more to renovate doesn’t phase the ultra-rich. Barbara Harris, the widow of late actor Carry Grant, tore down his home on prime a 2.9-acre Beverly Hills lot and built a 15,000-square-foot ultra-modern home with views from the LA skyline to the Pacific Ocean. The property was just listed it for $77.5 million.
“Buyers looking at homes from $1.2 million up are almost non-existent right now,” said Meme Loggins, a Redfin Premier agent in Portland, Ore, where luxury sales are down more than 5% from a year ago.
“Even in nice areas, high-end homes are selling really, really slow. If I have a buyer who finds the perfect house and is ready to make an offer, they tend to sleep on it for a little, and then they come back to me and say ‘Nope, I think we’ll wait and see if the price comes down.’”
For more celebrity home news and celebrity home video tours, visit TopTenRealEstateDeals.com.