Closing Time.

Ryan Seacrest recently bought Kevin Costner's 10,000-square-foot Spanish hacienda in the Hollywood Hills for $11.5 million. Universal Music Group COO Zach Horowitz paid a few bucks moreâ€"$12 million, to be exactâ€"a few months back for his own California property: a house on the Rockingham lot where O.J. Simpson's estate once stood. Turning eastward, the Game bought a $2 million home in Glendale.

In New York, Tommy Mottola just closed on a multimillion-dollar duplex, with views of Central Park.

Down south, Cher has sold her Key Biscayne, Fla., home, while Daddy Yankee bought an apartment there. And Barry and Linda Gibb just purchased the Hendersonville, Tenn., home where Johnny Cash and his wife, June Carter Cash, lived.

Deals like these make news, even when the real estate agents involved typically decline to discuss their high-profile clients. But those agents will gladly declare that the luxury real estate market in the four U.S. entertainment capitals is doing just fine.

In signature fashion, high-end properties have bucked the fluctuations that tend to occur in a softened overall real estate market. Simply put, people spending several million on a residence are less affected by changing mortgage interest rates and shifts in the economy.

Also, as an asset class, high-end real estate often proves to be a better return on investment than venture capital or other securities. And for Europeans and Latin Americans buying in the four U.S. entertainment capitalsâ€"New York, Los Angeles, Miami and Nashvilleâ€"a strong euro makes for a very sound investment.

"There's no softening in the high-end market here," says Terry Stevens, an affiliate broker with Fridrich & Clark in Nashville. "These people have the money. They have a different way of looking at the market. And their finances are structured differently than those going after $200,000 homes."

Daniel Gaviria, owner of Great Properties International in Key Biscayne, concurs. "If you're doing well, money doesn't disappear. It just changes hands," he says.

Still, realtors acknowledge that perception can become reality. In other words, when real estate buzz is heightened, the luxury market booms that much louder.

"The demand is strong," says Deborah Grubman, senior VP of the Corcoran Group in New York. "There are a lot of people with a lot of money." Pausing for a moment, she adds, "A great property equals great interest equals strong demand. That has not changed."

Though "a great property" is subjective, today's buyers take many things into consideration, including location, size, architecture, view and natural light. Also important, for some, is the provenance of the property. (Did it once belong to Cher, Madonna, Mick Jagger or David Geffen? Jackpot.)

While agents prefer to not name names, many acknowledge that such aspirational sales occur on a regular basis. "Did the property once belong to Jackie O.?," Grubman notes. For many, that is reason enough to buy a place, she says.

A trend in new high-rise constructions is to hire a celebrity architect, such as Richard Meier, whose luxury towers rise at the riverfront edge of Manhattan's West Village. Also noteworthy is the trend to incorporate numerous amenities into the property. These include on-site fitness centers, pools, dog walkers, restaurants and lounges. With older buildings, residents typically get a doorman and concierge. Period.

Gaviria says his clients seek location and security. "Many are looking for a second home," he says. While they prefer homes to condos, he says being near the water is key in Miami.

In Los Angeles, today's double-digit million-dollar homes are moving very quickly. Jonah Wilson, a broker with Sotheby's International Realty on Sunset Strip, says people are lining up to buy "those wonderful, 10,000-square-foot family homesâ€"the ones with all the bells and whistlesâ€"west of the 405" Interstate. A fair number of these buyers, he says, are music executives, producers and artists.

Nashville, centrally located and boasting a Midwestern lifestyle, offers the best of both worlds: no state income tax and great deals on luxury real estate, when compared with markets like New York and Los Angeles.

Across the board, realtors note that the luxury real estate market is skewing younger and younger, with 25- to 30-year-olds buying multimillion-dollar homes. Ten years ago, "unless you were a rock star," a $6 million house was sold to someone who had more time to make his or her fortune, Wilson says. Today, it's the 35-year-old music executive who is as apt as his older counterpart to buy the high-end property.

Surprised? Don't be. Though the record business is in a slump, the music industry as a whole has shifted, Wilson maintains. In addition to the labels, today's music business encompasses the gaming industry, the Internet, mobile technology and branded entertainment. "Maybe the person who has the incredible Internet company is the one looking for the $6 million home," Wilson says.

Indeed, agents and brokers confirm that they are now dealing with a wider net of buyers and sellersâ€"people in new positions or people employed in industries that did not exist five years ago. And one of the first things they like to doâ€"to best express their upward mobilityâ€"is buy a new home.

In Nashville, realtors say that growth in luxury real estate can also be attributed to non-entertainment companies migrating east. Nissan moved its U.S. headquarters from Southern California to the country music capital. The city also boasts home health-care firms and two pro sports franchises.

According to agents and brokers, this helps explain why real estate in Nashville has been on a growth path for the last six years. "It's been growing like spokes," Stevens says. Nashville proper is home to about half a million people, while more than 1 million live in surrounding areas.

Counties surrounding Nashville, including Davidson and Williamson, are expanding tremendously. Areas like Brentwood and Franklin are experiencing whole-growth patterns that were not in place 10 years ago. One-acre lots, with 5,000- to 6,000-square-foot homes, are selling for around $1 million.

A surrounding area like Belle Meade, with its enormous homes and old money, is comparable to Beverly Hills or Bel Air in Los Angeles.

A neighborhood like Leipers Fork outside Nashville offers acreage that promises privacyâ€"for a price. A 17,000-square-foot property on 250 acres of land was recently listed for $7.5 million. Stevens acknowledges that this is incredibly expensive for Nashville, "where you can go crazy with $1 or $2 million."

Thirty miles southeast of Nashville sits Murfreesboro, one of the fastest-growing areas for people who feel priced out of Nashville and other neighboring areas. Here, homeowners get more house for less money, generally in the $200,000-$400,000 range. (In New York, this might cover a studio apartment.)

This is a vital market for the not yet "big star" set, Stevens says. "You can't forget to mention that the people propping up [the name acts and label presidents] are buying and selling homes for $300,000-$500,000. That, too, is a very important part of the market."

To entice younger buyersâ€"those in their 30s and 40sâ€"and to get the attention of prominent brokers, condominium developers, particularly in New York, are hiring musicians to help raise awareness of new projects.

In early March, Extell Development invited Seal to perform near the construction site of its new condominium, the Avery, going up on the Upper West Side.

Downtown, developer Leviev Boymelgreen worked with Shvo Marketing president Michael Shvo on an event celebrating the opening of its condominium, 20 Pine Street, in the financial district. John Legend performed at the social soiree, which was done in association with the New York Academy of Arts.

According to Shvo, whose firm works alongside developers to produce and sell developments, more people showed up for the event than could be accommodated. With such creative marketing, Shvo stresses the importance of finding the right marriage between building and celebrity. "You want the celebrity to be as unique as the property we're selling." Armani/Casa designed the interiors of 20 Pine Street.

Corcoran's Grubman credits such star-studded events to the numerous new developments cropping up around the city. "Some contractors want to capture the public's attention immediately," she says. Call it high-end publicity.

Shvo has now partnered with Jade Jagger on a building taking root in New York's Union Square neighborhood. "I'm sure we'll try to produce something exciting when the time comes," Shvo says, with an apparent wink to Jagger's rock legend dad.

Contractors and developers need to woo potential brokers and clients. So, they now treat a new condominium development the same way a record label treats a new release or an artist's tour. "You want to get the attention of the press," Grubman explains. "You're advertising a product." This concept has yet to catch on in Los Angeles, Miami and Nashville.

That said, the city of Miami's mayor, Manny Diaz, hosted a VIP cocktail reception in March at the Four Seasons Hotel Miami to celebrate the premiere of "Viva Florida" on E! Entertainment Latin America. The TV show is billed as the No. 1 luxury real estate program.

Plain and simple, Grubman notes, real estate has become a hot and sexy topic for everyone. It's no longer simply the lifestyle of the rich and famous. "When I meet clients at buildings, even the doormen are now talking prices."

She adds, "I've always thought it was the sexiest thing to talk about. I guess I was ahead of the curve."

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By Michael Paoletta

Additional reporting by Leila Cobo, in Miami and Melinda Newman, in Los Angeles