Holiday Sales: Real-Estate Deals Often Surge in December

This holiday season, some real-estate agents get the gift of overtime. In the last weeks of the year, a surge of luxury homeowners make big moves. With fewer listings for sale, some last-minute shoppers go on the hunt for bargains, while others take advantage of tax benefits for year-end planning. For luxury real-estate agents, whose weekend getaways might cost them a six-digit commission, vacation is a relative term. “This has been an active year, and it’s pushing through to the end,” said Jonathan Miller, a New York real-estate appraiser who notes that the final flurry of activity often occurs in early December, in a last-ditch effort before law firms and title companies shutter for the holidays.

On Thanksgiving Day, while Rick Edler’s family watched “The Good Dinosaur,” he sneaked out of the movie theater to make his own blockbuster: a $3 million home sale in California’s Palos Verdes Estates. Mr. Edler, an agent with Vista Sotheby’s International Realty, left the movie theater to call his buyer because he heard the seller was willing to negotiate. (He got a tip from the seller’s agent, who was biking with his family in the desert.) “We were all utilizing the emotion of the holiday season,” said Mr. Edler, noting that both the buyer and seller were spending time with their families when he helped broker the deal. “Nothing is better than chatting [with clients] during the holidays.” From Thanksgiving through New Year’s Day, there are 20% fewer $1 million-plus listings, and they spend an average 35% more days on the market, compared with the peak buying season in May and June, according to Realtor.com. The study looked at 10 major markets, including New York, Chicago, Washington, D.C. and San Francisco, from January 2014 through September. (News Corp., which owns The Wall Street Journal, also owns Realtor.com, the listing website of the National Association of Realtors.) But there is a jump in activity in the second week of December—a 10% rise in signed contracts from the previous week, followed by a 5% bump in closings. “It’s sort of like a second wind from the crazy summer activity,” said Javier Vivas, an economic-research analyst for the site. It is fueled by a wave of price cuts and new listings in November, and a fear of what’s to come: January through the end of February is 10% to 20% slower than December in most markets, he said. Karina Pacific, an agent with Palm Realty Boutique in Los Angeles, Calif., recently brought her 14-year-old daughter Kyra, who was in winter recess, to a showing for the onetime home of the NBA’s Sasha Vujacic. The home, a 3,455-square-foot beach house and guest home in Palos Verdes Estates, was listed in July for $3.6 million. But to drum up interest, she dropped the price to $3.4 million two days before Thanksgiving. The current owner, a dermatologist, is selling after his daughter’s family relocated for a new job. The holiday price cut has garnered interest from an all-cash buyer in China. Ms. Pacific’s current Christmas plans: staycation. “When you go away, that’s when you get really busy,” she said.

In New York, Vickey Barron of Douglas Elliman listed a $19.2 million condo in downtown’s Walker Tower on Black Friday. “Some people say you’re listing at the worst time of year, but my thinking is: Numbers don’t lie,” said Ms. Barron, who sold a Walker Tower penthouse in November 2013 for $50.9 million, a record for downtown New York. The following November she sold another Walker Tower penthouse in the building for $40.73 million. Her client, Lisa Leder, who owns a commercial real-estate company in Florida, is selling her 3,838-square-foot condo in Walker Tower because her daughter no longer uses the space. “I personally like listing properties during the holiday season,” said Ms. Leder, because wealthy vacationers often squeeze in some house showings on their break. She also is selling her $3.495 million ski home in Stowe, Vt., which has had recent showings. Meanwhile, Ms. Leder will spend some of her Christmas break to shop for homes in Aspen, Colo. There can be tax advantages to closing a deal before year-end, says Perry Green of Waddell & Associates, a Memphis-based asset-management firm. Those who finance the purchase will benefit sooner from deductible costs if they close before January. For those who have suffered investment losses, gains from the sale of an investment property in the same year may help lower their tax bill. Not all agents are keen on giving up their “me” time. Gregg Lynn, an agent with Sotheby’s in San Francisco, has nine listings in escrow this holiday season—up from three last year, which he attributes in part to some owners listing later in the year. “Everybody wants to close before the holidays—it’s nuts,” said Mr. Lynn. In one case, he planned to officially list a $1.25 million co-op in the New Year, when a buyer from the Philippines offered to pre-emptively buy the 1,100-square-foot unit. Mr. Lynn expects the other eight listings to all close before January. He isn’t complaining, but the pressure is on to keep his holiday promise to not work after Christmas. To that end, he has instructed his assistant to change all of his email and office passwords until Jan. 5, when he returns to work. “On Christmas Eve, I might check email; after that I’m locked out,” he said. Write to Stefanos Chen at stefanos.chen@wsj.com This article originally appeared on The Wall Street Journal.