Nearly 45% of home sellers in the U.S. provided concessions to buyers this summer, according to a new analysis by the online real estate brokerage Redfin.
Even more house hunters bagged deals in Sun Belt markets like Atlanta, where nearly three-quarters of homebuyers were able to negotiate for closing costs, repairs and other perks, including mortgage rate buy-downs.
And roughly 15% of buyers also got a discounted price on their new home in addition to concessions, the analysis of data submitted by Redfin buyers’ agents across the country for the three months ending Aug. 31 showed.
The 44.7% of buyers reporting having to make concessions to close a sale this year is the highest share for that three-month period at least since 2020. Then, just over 40% of buyers did the same.
But the COVID-19 pandemic-era buying frenzy, which sparked bidding wars for homes at a time when mortgage rates were at record lows, slashed that number to just over 24% in 2021, and 27.6% in 2022. The share has risen steadily since, hitting 42.6% last year.
Homebuyers ‘know they can be picky’
Now, with mortgage rates topping 7% and expected to remain high amid the economic impact of the ongoing war against Iran, buyers have the upper hand in much of the country. Nationwide, Redfin said August was the strongest buyers market in records dating back to 2013.
“Buyers know they can be picky. They’re asking for every concession under the sun,” Dallas real estate agent Amanda Peterson told Redfin. “There are so many homes for sale that buyers are holding out for one that checks every box.”
Atlanta leads the top 10 list for concessions among the 29 major metropolitan areas analyzed by Redfin, followed by Charlotte, North Carolina; Phoenix; Las Vegas; Raleigh, North Carolina; Nashville; Houston; Denver; Riverside, California; and Virginia Beach, Virginia.
But there are still markets where homebuyers aren’t likely to gain concessions. In San Jose, California, just 4.2% of sellers gave concessions to buyers this summer, followed by New York, San Francisco, Chicago and Philadelphia.
Are home sellers offering concessions in Utah?
While the Redfin analysis didn’t include any place in Utah, Salt Lake Board of Realtors President Scott Colemere said last week that the number of homes for sale in the state is getting close to a six-month supply, signaling a buyer’s market.
Many Utah home sellers are already offering concessions, Colemere said, with mortgage rate buy-downs starting to show up in individual real estate transactions, not just the purchase of newly built homes.
“There is opportunity,” the longtime real estate agent based in Sandy said, for buyers “to find affordable housing prices, especially where sellers are more and more willing to negotiate price and terms.”