Los Angeles  - Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, 83, finally found a rich buyer for his luxury villa in the Los Angeles upscale neighbourhood of Holmby, the Los Angeles Times reported Saturday.

But with a drooping housing market and recession, he and wife Kimberly had to come down considerably from the 28 million dollars they listed it for in March.

Twenty-five-year-old entrepreneur Daren Metroupolos plunked down only 18 million dollars for the home next to the famous Playboy Mansion.

The two-storey house, built in English manor style in 1929 as the country's last major recession was beginning, offers five bedrooms, seven bathrooms and a huge garden with pool.

The publisher of the Playboy magazine often slips next door to the Playboy Mansion to mix with the scantily-dressed women called Playmates and prominent guests.

Hefner acquired the house in the mid 1990s for an unknown amount, when the value was estimated at 17 million dollars.

The Hefners want to sell the house because their nest is empty after sons Marston and Cooper have moved away to attend college, the Times reported in March.

The couple was together for 10 years before they split in 1999. The couple remains however married to one another. (dpa)