Only a Manse Will Do for Luxury Seekers : The Trend in Homes: Build 'to the Max'

"People do not want to live in tight spaces. There's a real trend right now: 'Give me room.' With land values skyrocketing, interest rates relatively low and foreign wealth pouring in to join old-time California affluence, the market for oversized luxury homes--from monstrous super-estates to build-your-own $5-million mansions--has taken off like a chateau afire."

"The nearly completed structure dominates an entire ridge in Holmby Hills. It has more floor space--a whopping 56,500 square feet--than Hearst Castle, with its own gym, bowling alley and an entire mezzanine floor of closets. But all of a sudden, Spelling is being upstaged. Former talk-show host Merv Griffin announced last month that his new hilltop home is instead going to sprawl over 58,000 square feet."

"Throughout the Santa Monica Mountains, whole ridges are being graded and spectacular villas wedged into ravines where development was once considered impossible. In monied communities such as Brentwood, Bel-Air, Beverly Hills and Pacific Palisades, the luxury home market continues to expand with unprecedented construction of oversized estates."

Los Angeles's luxury real estate market is experiencing unprecedented growth in mega-mansion construction. TV producer Aaron Spelling's 56,500-square-foot Holmby Hills estate, initially the largest residential structure in the area, is being surpassed by Merv Griffin's 58,000-square-foot hilltop home and a potential palace being built by the sultan of Brunei's representative in Beverly Hills. Developers attribute this trend to wealthy buyers' desire for expansive living spaces and the convergence of rising land values, low interest rates, and foreign capital investment. Throughout affluent communities including Brentwood, Bel-Air, Beverly Hills, and Pacific Palisades, entire ridges are being developed with spectacular villas constructed in previously undevelopable locations.

Read at Los Angeles Times