Jim Carrey Lists L.A. Home of Nearly 30 Years for $28.9 Million

Actor Jim Carrey is putting his Los Angeles home of nearly 30 years on the market for $28.9 million.

Mr. Carrey, who was born in Canada, bought the ranch-style Brentwood home in 1994, around the time of the release of his first major movie hit, “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective.” It wasn’t clear how much he paid.

In a statement, Mr. Carrey said the property had been “a place of enchantment and inspiration” to him over “30 very creative and prosperous years.”

“Every night the owls sang me lullabies and every morning I sipped my cup of joe with the hawks and hummingbirds, under a giant grandfather pine,” he said.

The roughly 12,700-square-foot estate includes a five-bedroom main house with a traditional brick facade and contemporary interiors, according to listing agent Janelle Friedman of Sotheby’s International Realty. Spanning about 2 acres, the property has a gym, a tennis court, a waterfall pool and spa, and a pool house with a sauna and steam room. There is also a dedicated outdoor yoga and meditation platform, she said.

The home is infused with elements of Mr. Carrey’s personality. A custom Art Deco-style home theatre, complete with mohair-covered sofas, burl wood columns and a snack area, features costumes from Mr. Carrey’s films in glass cases on the walls. They include a set of blue overalls from “The Cable Guy” and the Santa Claus costume from “The Grinch.” In an adjacent bar area, his Riddler costume from “Batman Forever” is on display, as well as some of his trophies from the MTV Movie & TV Awards.

The home’s neutral, understated aesthetic is punctuated by dramatic pops of colour, some of which are provided by Mr. Carrey’s own artwork: the actor is also a prolific painter who has gained recognition for his bold, graphic and colour-saturated pieces. On the lawn is “Ayla,” a sculpture by Mr. Carrey that depicts a nude woman peering through a picture frame. The art and mementos aren’t for sale with the house.

In the main house, the primary living space has pitched, beamed ceilings with skylights, while the living, dining and family rooms all have their own fireplaces. French doors throughout the home open to a large courtyard patio. The primary bedroom suite has its own sitting area, fireplace, and a covered balcony overlooking the property.

In a statement, Mr. Carrey said he is selling the property because he no longer spends as much time there. “I want someone else to enjoy it like I have,” he said, referencing a famous song by David Bowie: “Ch-ch-ch-changes!”

Mr. Carrey is best known for films like “The Mask,” “Dumb and Dumber” and “Liar Liar.” More recently, he has starred in the “Sonic the Hedgehog” film franchise.

For decades, Australia has leaned into its reputation as the lucky country. But luck, as it turns out, is not an economic strategy.

What once looked like resilience now appears increasingly fragile. Beneath the surface of rising property values and steady headline growth, the Australian economy is showing signs of strain that can no longer be ignored.

Recent data paints a sobering picture. Australia has recorded one of the largest declines in real household disposable income per capita among advanced economies.

Wages have failed to keep pace with inflation, meaning many Australians are working harder for less. On a per capita basis, income growth has stalled and, at times, reversed.

And yet, on paper, things still look relatively solid. GDP is growing. Unemployment remains low. But that growth is increasingly being driven by population expansion rather than productivity.

More people are contributing to output, but not necessarily improving living standards.

That distinction matters.

For years, Australia’s economic success rested on a powerful combination: a once-in-a-generation mining boom, a credit-fuelled housing market, strong migration and a property sector that rarely faltered. Between 1991 and 2020, the country avoided recession entirely, building enormous wealth in the process.

But much of that wealth is tied to property. Around two-thirds of household wealth sits in real estate, inflated by leverage and sustained by demand. It has worked, until now.

The problem is the supply side of the economy has not kept up.

Housing supply is falling behind population growth. Rental vacancies are near record lows.

Construction firms are collapsing at an elevated rate. At the same time, massive infrastructure pipelines are competing with residential projects for labour and materials, pushing costs higher and delaying delivery.

The result is a system under pressure from all angles.

Despite near full employment, productivity growth has stagnated for years. In simple terms, Australians are putting in more hours without generating more output per hour. The economy is running faster, butgoing nowhere.

Meanwhile, government spending continues to expand. Public debt is approaching $1 trillion, with spending now accounting for a record share of GDP.

The gap between spending and revenue has been filled by borrowing for decades, adding further pressure to an already stretched system.

This is where the uncomfortable question emerges.

Has Australia become too reliant on a model driven by rising property values, expanding credit and population growth?

As asset prices rise, households feel wealthier and borrow more. Banks lend more. Governments collect more revenue. Migration fuels demand. The cycle reinforces itself.

But when productivity stalls and debt outpaces real income, the system begins to depend on constant expansion just to stay stable.

It is not a collapse scenario. But it is not particularly stable either.

Nowhere is this more evident than in housing.

The National Housing Accord targets 1.2 million new homes over five years, yet current completion rates are well below that pace. With approvals falling and construction costs rising, the gap between supply and demand is widening, not narrowing.

Housing is also one of the largest contributors to inflation, with costs rising sharply across rents, construction and utilities. Yet the private sector, from small investors to major developers, is struggling to make projects stack up in the current environment.

This brings the policy debate into sharper focus.

Tax settings such as negative gearing and capital gains concessions have undoubtedly boosted demand over the past two decades. But they have also supported supply. Removing them may ease prices briefly, but risks deepening the supply shortage over time.

That is the paradox.

Policies designed to make housing more affordable can, in practice, make the shortage worse if they discourage development. The optics may appeal, but the economics are far less forgiving.

It is also worth remembering that most property investors are not institutional players. The majority own just one investment property. They are, in many cases, ordinary Australians using real estate as their primary wealth-building tool.

Undermining that system without replacing it with a viable alternative risks unintended consequences, from reduced supply to higher rents and increased inflation.

So where does that leave Australia?

At a crossroads.

The country can continue to rely on population growth and rising asset prices to drive economic activity. Or it can shift towards a model built on productivity, innovation and sustainable growth.

The latter is harder. It requires structural reform, long-term thinking and political discipline.

But it is also the only path that leads to genuine, lasting prosperity.

The question is no longer whether Australia has been lucky.

It is whether it can evolve before that luck runs out.

Paul Miron is the Co-Founder & Fund Manager of Msquared Capital.

Jim Carrey Lists L.A. Home of Nearly 30 Years for $28.9 Million

The actor says the ranch-style Brentwood property has been a ‘place of enchantment and inspiration’

As housing drives wealth and policy debate, the real risk is an economy hooked on growth without productivity to sustain it.