In the past year over half a dozen mansions in Los Angeles have sold for $20 million or higher, and real estate experts believe this could signify a turnaround in the housing market.
Stuart Gabriel, director of the Ziman Center for Real Estate at UCLA's Anderson School of Management, views these new statistics as signals of a turning point, but is still cautious.
"It's highly likely we would not see this activity if there wasn't a growing belief that we were close to the bottom of the market, " he said. "Certainly on the Westside of L.A. we are close to the trough. That doesn't mean there isn't a likelihood of future price drops, but the worst is behind us."
He went on to explain that L.A. prices are now close to where they were in 2003. DataQuick, a real estate information service out of San Diego, reported that the median home price dropped by 45% from $505,000 in 2007 to $280,000 in May of 2011.
Recent mega-estates to be sold include, Candy Spelling’s manor, Jennifer Aniston’s Beverly Hills Estate, and philanthropist Iris Cantor’s home in Bel-Air.
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