Nearly half of all home sellers offered concessions, 1st-quarter data shows

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FILE - A for sale sign is displayed outside of a home for sale on August 16, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images)

More sellers are offering concessions to homebuyers in 2025, according to a Redfin analysis.

This year, home sellers gave concessions to buyers in 44.4% of U.S. home-sale transactions in the first quarter, which is up 39.3% compared to last year and is just shy of the record high set in 2023, which was 45.1%. 

What are concessions? 

Dig deeper:

Concessions are payments made by a seller to offset certain costs or fees of that are usually taken care of by the home buyer.

Seller concessions can include covering parts of the buyer’s closing costs or other expenses such as appraisal fees, title search fees, inspection fees, and more, according to the National Association of Realtors.

Big picture view:

More sellers are offering buyers concessions due to elevated prices on homes, mortgages and economic uncertainty, according to Redfin.

What’s more, buyer demand is sluggish and sellers are facing more competition from each other. 

More concessions, lower offers

Some sellers are actually giving concessions and accepting lower offers for their homes. 

By the numbers:

• 21.5% of homes were sold below the asking price in the first quarter, which is up 18.5% compared to last year. 
• About 16.2% had a price cut and concessions were offered to the buyer, which is up 13% compared to 2024. 
• About 9.9% involved concessions, price cuts and were sold below the asking price, which is up 8% compared to last year. 

Top 24 cities with the most concessions during home sales

Seattle, Washington, ranked as the top U.S. metropolitan city where home sellers gave out concessions to buyers, according to Redfin.

What they're saying:

"It’s super common to see seller concessions for condos and new-construction townhomes, but less so for single-family homes—unless the single-family home has been sitting on the market for a while," said Stephanie Kastner, a Redfin Premier real estate agent in Seattle. "Condos have become a tougher sell because of skyrocketing HOA fees and insurance. And builders are offering concessions because it’s in their best interest to keep sale prices high; they’re willing to pay buyers’ closing costs and maybe provide a free washer-dryer if it means they don’t have to drop the listing price."

After Seattle was Portland, Oregon, followed by Atlanta, Georgia, San Diego, California and Denver, Colorado.

The metropolitan area with the least amount of concessions was New York City.