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April 7, 2015

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Mega-rich techies look to southern California

Internet moguls like Amazon鈥檚 Jeff Bezos aren鈥檛 the only techies snatching up real estate in southern California.

While the mega-rich from Silicon Valley have made headlines for their purchases of extravagant Los Angeles homes, the city has become increasingly appealing to a trove of investors and startup entrepreneurs as well.

The new buyers are drawn to the city for a mix of personal, financial and work-related reasons, the Los Angeles Times reports. The city offers a growing tech scene, warmer weather and more space for less money.

鈥淲e鈥檝e seen an uptick in buyers from the technology industry over the last several years 鈥 some moving to Los Angeles and some buying second homes here, as a kind of peaceful retreat,鈥 Charles Black, executive vice president of marketing and strategic development at Hilton and Hyland, told the Times.

The Los Angeles-Long Beach region broke into the top five Metro areas by venture capital investment for the first time in 2014. There were 171 deals totaling US$2.05 billion, according to National Venture Capital Association.

Some of the most high-profile purchases in recent years include Bezos鈥 US$24.5 million Beverly Hills compound. Sean Parker, co-founder of Napster and an early leader at Facebook, purchased Ellen DeGeneres鈥 Holmby Hills mansion for US$55 million. Swedish tech billionaire Markus Persson, the creator of Minecraft, topped them both when he spent US$70 million for a Beverly Hills mansion with a US$200,000 candy room.

But the purchases of the uber-rich only tell half the tale.


 

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