Some Hollywood highlights are reportedly rushing to sell their luxury homes before Los Angeles’ new “mansion tax” takes effect on April 1. The tax, called the ULA Act, will require sellers of properties worth more than $5 million to pay a 4 percent transfer tax.
The same law will require a 5.5 percent tax to be paid in case of sales higher than $10 million, and all the money collected will be used for social housing. The city aims to generate up to $1 billion in revenue from these sales to combat the growing homelessness crisis.
The ULA Act was passed with a 57 percent yes vote in November 2022, after housing advocates and labor unions campaigned for the tax to be voted on. But real estate agents, who warned that the tax would cause a sales “craze” among the wealthiest homeowners, reacted sharply to the law’s adoption.
Celebrities such as Jim Carrey, Britney Spears and Kylie Jenner have put their sprawling properties up for sale in recent months.
Carrey’s 1179-square-foot home was advertised for $29 million in February. Spears reportedly put his 1,082-square-foot home in Calabasas up for sale for $12 million just 6 months after he bought it with his wife, Sam Asghari.
It was first reported in October that Jenner had put up for sale their Beverly Hills home, which she and her partner Travis Scott owned, for more than $33 million. The couple bought the 7-bedroom, 10-bath property for $20.4 million in 2018.
Mark Wahlberg put his 2833-square-foot mansion in Beverly Hills up for sale last April, long before the law passed. But in November it slashed the price of the house from $87.5 million to $79.5 million and finally found a buyer this February.
