Brad Pitt has sold his Hollywood Hills home for $39m, just days before Los Angeles’ new Measure ULA tax went into effect.

The Bullet Train actor closed on the sale of his Craftsman-style house in late March, avoiding the so-called “mansion tax” that went into effect on 1 April. The new tax will require sellers of properties of more than $5m to pay a four per cent transfer tax, while a 5.5 per cent tax will be charged to property sales of more than $10m.

By selling his Hollywood Hills home just under the wire, Pitt avoided a $2.145m tax bill.

The Oscar winner first purchased the nearly two-acre property almost 30 years ago from actor Cassandra Peterson, best known for her portrayal as Elvira, Mistress of the Dark in the 1998 film of the same name. In 1994, Pitt bought the mansion for a reported $1.7m. From 1998 to 2009, Pitt would purchase the four properties surrounding the ​​6,700-square-foot home. Today, the luxury home includes a skate park, tennis court, a koi pond, and several pools.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the deal marks one of Southern California’s priciest sales of the year and one of the biggest sales ever in the Hollywood Hills neighbourhood. A source told Entertainment Tonight the deal was “done off-market,” meaning the home was privately listed and sold to an unnamed buyer.

This week, the famed Mistress of the Dark revealed to People that she warned Pitt the 1915 home was “haunted” before he purchased the property. While Peterson told the Babylon actor about the supposed paranormal activity she had encountered in the house, instead of being scared, he “loved it”.

During her early meetings with Pitt about the mansion, the 71-year-old actor said she would warn him about “a lot of weird things [that] have been going on there in the house since we moved in”.