Strike Takes Toll On Celebrity Real Estate Market

LOS ANGELES, Calif. --

Now that the writers strike appears to be coming to an end, it will certainly affect the TV schedule, perhaps as soon as March. But it appears the strike also had quite an impact on another industry in Hollywood – the real estate market.

It seems even Hollywood’s best and brightest stars weren’t immune to the effects of a housing market downturn that has swept most of the nation, and the strike only made matters worse, according to a report by Forbes.com.

After the strike started in November, only 4,430 homes were sold in Los Angeles in the month of December, which is down 48 percent from the previous year. Not only that, but the average price of a home also fell 11 percent to $470,000.

And while celebrity homes certainly eclipse that number, one realty expert said it’s the owners trying to sell the higher-priced homes (priced between $3 million - $6 million) that are having the most difficulty on the market.

"A lot of those people are involved, in one way or another, with the strike. They're upgrading from lesser houses that they're having trouble selling because of the market, so it's like a domino effect,” Sotheby’s International realtor Barry Sloane told Forbes.

Pop rocker Avril Lavigne is one of the stars who have felt the ripple effect of the strike, as she was forced to reduce her asking price by over $1 million.

Avril reduced the price of her five-bedroom, six-bathroom house in Beverly Hills from $6.9 million to $5.8 million. The property, which also includes a tennis court and pool, is currently in escrow, according to Forbes.com.

Meanwhile, Wilmer Valderrama wound up taking $200,000 less for his five-bedroom home in the Tarzana area, agreeing to sell in January for $1.75 million.

And even some of Hollywood’s vets aren’t immune to the slump, according to Forbes.com.

After reducing the price three times, Ed McMahon is reportedly willing to accept a bid $2 million less than his original $7.7 million asking price for his 7,000-square-foot Beverly Hills home. The home is now on the market for $5.7 million.

For those fortunate folks currently shopping for a home in the over $20 million range, now’s the time to make your move, Sloane added in his interview with Forbes.com.

Sloane has been trying to sell a lavish estate on Mulholland Drive, owned by Vidal Sassoon, for over a year and has dropped the price by $5 million.

“There's usually a waiting list for homes over $20 million," Sloane concluded. "Now, it's slowing down a tiny bit — for the first time in years."

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