NEW YORK, NY — Home sellers are leaning harder on incentives to close deals as the market tilts toward buyers, according to new Redfin data. In August, sellers offered concessions in 44.7% of U.S. home sales, the highest August share since at least 2020 and up 2.1 percentage points from a year earlier.
The incentives are no longer limited to routine help with repairs or mortgage costs. Redfin cited examples of an Atlanta agent offering a buyer a weeklong stay in an Airbnb owned by the seller, while a Charlotte, North Carolina, agent offered an all-expenses-paid cruise. The brokerage said some sellers are now pairing concessions with price cuts to make their listings stand out.
Sellers are using vacations, cruises and cash help to win over cautious buyers
Redfin said the most common concessions still include mortgage rate buy-downs and seller-paid repairs, but the spread of incentives has widened as buyers become more selective. Some sellers are adding appliances or offering total concessions worth $10,000 to $20,000, according to the brokerage’s data.
In some cases, sellers are going even further by lowering the asking price and offering concessions at the same time. In August, 15.8% of U.S. homes saw both a price drop and a concession, up from 15.6% a year earlier and the highest level since Redfin began tracking that data point.
That combination matters because it shows where negotiating power has moved. Buyers who remain active now have more options and more room to push for better terms, while sellers face longer odds of landing a deal without giving something extra away.
Redfin says sellers outnumber buyers by 58%
The bigger backdrop is a housing market that Redfin describes as the strongest buyer’s market it has ever recorded. The brokerage said sellers outnumbered buyers by 58% in August, the widest gap in its records.
That imbalance helps explain why concessions have become so common. As more homeowners list properties and fewer buyers compete for them, sellers have to work harder to attract attention. Incentives can bridge the gap when a listing is sitting longer than expected or when buyers are comparing multiple options at once.
Redfin said the trend is part of a market where supply has improved while demand has softened. For buyers, that has created an opening to negotiate on terms that were harder to obtain when bidding wars were more common.
Higher mortgage rates are making buyers more cautious
Mortgage rates near 7% continue to weigh on affordability, and Redfin said that is one reason demand has cooled. Borrowing costs make monthly payments harder to absorb, especially for buyers already stretched by home prices and other living expenses.
At the same time, buyers who stay in the market are in a stronger position than they were during the frenzy of earlier years. With less competition, they can ask sellers to cover repairs, help with financing costs or make other concessions before signing.
Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather said concessions can reveal more about the market than headline home prices alone. The national median home price rose about 2% year over year in August, but Fairweather suggested that once concessions are included, the real cost of buying may look softer than the price tag indicates.
Atlanta and Charlotte are among the country’s most concession-heavy markets
The biggest concentration of concessions is in the Sun Belt, where Redfin said a wave of post-pandemic construction created more supply and more room for buyers to negotiate. Atlanta led the country, with concessions included in 72.8% of homebuying deals.
Charlotte was close behind, with concessions in 67.9% of sales. Redfin said these markets reflect the broader buyer advantage seen across much of the South, where newer inventory and slower demand have given purchasers more leverage.
By contrast, the Bay Area and New York remained much tighter markets. New York saw concessions in just 5.7% of sales, while San Francisco registered 18.6%. Redfin said wealthier buyers and limited supply continue to support those markets.
Future rates and inventory could shift the balance again
Fairweather said the outlook depends on several macroeconomic forces, including inflation, tariffs and concerns about an AI bubble. She added that the Federal Reserve’s recent rate hike and expected hikes later this year have already been reflected in market expectations.
Even so, Redfin said other events could still change the picture quickly. Trade policy shifts or a sharp reversal in the technology sector could alter borrowing costs, demand and investor sentiment, which would affect how much power buyers and sellers have.
Over the longer term, Fairweather pointed to baby boomers as a key source of inventory. Realtor.com data shows boomers account for about 42% of purchases and 52% of sales, and as they gradually sell homes over the next decade or two, Redfin expects more supply to reach the market and keep buyer leverage in place.
What the data says about today’s housing market
The numbers suggest a housing market that looks healthier for buyers than it did during the pandemic surge, even if asking prices still appear elevated on paper. Concessions, price cuts and seller-paid costs all point to a market where negotiation has returned as a central part of the transaction.
For shoppers, that can mean more chances to ask for repairs, financing help or extras that lower the real cost of buying. For sellers, it means the strategy may be less about setting the highest possible list price and more about deciding what incentive is enough to bring a buyer to the table.
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