HousingWireHousingWire
U.S. home sellers offered concessions to buyers in near-record numbers during the first quarter of 2025 as rising housing costs, high mortgage rates and growing economic uncertainty continued to reshape the real estate landscape.
According to a new report from Redfin, 44.4% of home sales from January through March included concessions such as money toward repairs, closing costs or mortgage rate buydowns. That’s up from 39.3% a year ago and close to the record figure of 45.1% at the start of 2023.
Seller are turning to concessions more frequently as buyers grow more cautious. Listings have reached a five-year high, giving house hunters increased bargaining power.
“Buyers used to ask for concessions to cover little things like repairs. Now they’re negotiating concessions so they can afford to buy a home,” said Chaley McVay, a Redfin Premier agent in Portland, Oregon. “A lot of sellers are offering money for mortgage-rate buydowns, and I recently had one seller cover seven months of HOA fees for the buyer.”
McVay said concessions have become a strategic way for sellers to meet buyers’ financial needs without lowering their sale price.
“Sellers are feeling nervous because a lot of them bought at the top of the market in 2021 and 2022, and will now be re-buying at a higher mortgage rate. They’re worried about net proceeds,” she said.
“That’s why I recommend my buyers ask for concessions instead of a lower sale price — it can be a win-win because then the buyer is catching a break and the seller doesn’t have to go below the price they had in their head.”
Regional disparities in concessions
The trend is particularly strong in the Pacific Northwest.
In Seattle, 71.3% of sellers offered concessions in Q1 2025 — the highest share among the 24 major U.S. metros analyzed by Redfin. That figure nearly doubled from 36.4% a year earlier, marking the largest year-over-year increase among large metros.
“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 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.”
Portland had the second-largest increase in concessions, rising 14.2 percentage points during the year to 63.9%. Other metros with notable increases include Los Angeles (up 11 points to 56.1%), San Jose (up 10.6 points to 16.7%), and Houston (up 6.2 pts to 46%).
In contrast, New York City saw the sharpest decline. Just 5.5% of home sellers there included concessions — down 15.7 percentage points from a year ago and the lowest share among the surveyed metros. Miami (down 13.1 points to 33.8%), San Antonio (down 10.9 points to 44.4%), Tampa (down 9.2 points to 33.9%) and Phoenix (down 3.5 points to 51.2%) also recorded decreases.
Redfin analysts note that markets in Florida and Texas have already been adjusting to a slower pace for some time. This has led sellers to price homes more competitively upfront and reduce the need for concessions.
More discount-concession combos
A growing number of sellers are combining concessions with price cuts or accepting offers below asking price. Redfin reports that:
- 21.5% of homes sold in Q1 2025 went for less than asking price and included a seller concession (up from 18.5% a year ago)
- 16.2% involved a price cut and a concession (up from 13%)
- 9.9% involved a price cut, a concession and a sale price below the initial asking price (up from 8%)
Softening demand is also reflected in a rising number of deal cancellations.
In March, 13.4% of home purchase agreements fell through, according to Redfin — equivalent to about 52,000 transactions. That’s the third-highest rate for March since at least 2017 and trails only 2020, when disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic temporarily froze the market.
