Whither Real Estate Gossip?

At what point during this whole postmodern gossip craze did we start to become fascinated by what can only be called Real Estate gossip? Don't get me wrong: I love my gossip served pipin' hot, but I'm not sure I need to know about the schematics of a particular celebrity home or even the price paid. Too much information, thank you very much. For example: nowadays, we can learn through New York Magazine, that: "Kathleen Turner is downsizing her real estate to match her diminishing box-office clout." We also are deluged with gossip about Woody Allen selling "his massive Carnegie Hill townhouse." Who can forget also that Lachlan Murdoch son of mogul Rupert, "has bought an enormous-and mysterious-14,500-square-foot building in Nolita for $5.25 million." Even 50 Cent got in the news when he bought Mike Tyson's $4.1 million Farmington, Connecticut mansion.

My point here is do we really need to know that much information? Do we need to know how much Katherine Hepburn's pad will go for? Is this just some elaborate game put on us gossip lovers by the Real Estate industry? And, finally, at what point did this useless information seep into the precincts of High Gossip?