Film director Rachel Perkins leads last-minute selling rush with $3m Bondi Beach home

If your property isn’t listed for sale by this weekend, you’re not selling this year.

That’s the message from agents, many of whom have have been at pains to convince home owners that time is running out for the 2018 property market.

Heeding the market’s call is film and television director Rachel Perkins, who listed her Bondi Beach Californian bungalow this week with hopes of securing a sale before Christmas so she can relax over the break.

Perkins’ rush to the market comes just days after she was nominated in the small-screen category for an Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Award on Tuesday for her outback crime drama Mystery Road.

Having bought the house in 2010 for $1.5 million, and raised her son Arnhem there, Perkins has moved to Leichhardt where she bought another free-standing house last year for $2.22 million.

Daniel Gillespie, of Belle Property Bondi Junction, is asking about $3 million ahead of the December 3 auction.

“The uncertainty of 2019 makes it a good call for vendors to hit the market this year, particularly given a federal election early next year could destabilise things further,” said Gillespie.

Upping the deadline pressure is a trend of recent years that sees the market shut down earlier in December and start up earlier in the new year, said Alexander Phillips, of Phillips Pantzer Donnelley.

“There seems to be a sense of buyer fatigue that sets in,” said Mr Phillips. “And if you don’t sell in time you can be left dangling with your house on the market when the market is going backwards.”

With that in mind, Mr Phillips launched five properties for sale this week, making them the last for the year, and has new stock already slated for open inspections on January 12 – weeks ahead of the market’s traditional start after the Australia Day long weekend.

Matt Lahood, chief executive of The Agency, agreed the market was tending to shut down earlier each year, but said it was worth having a skeleton staff over the break to field buyer enquiries.

“People tend to take time over Christmas to think about what they want for the year ahead,” Lahood said. “But they don’t wait until they’re back at work to do their research. They jump on the internet after New Year’s Eve.”