US home sellers paid concessions in 44.7% of sales in August

Sellers covered repairs, closing costs or rate buydowns in 44.7% of US home sales in the three months to August, the highest August share since at least 2020.

Sellers gave buyers a concession in 44.7% of US home sales in the three months to 31 August 2026, up from 42.6% a year earlier, according to data from Redfin's buyer's agents published on 18 September. It is the highest August reading since at least 2020, the first year of the series.

What counts as a concession

Redfin records a concession when an agent reports that the seller paid for something that lowered the buyer's total cost: money towards repairs, closing costs or a mortgage-rate buydown. A cut to the asking price is not counted. In August, 15.8% of homes sold with both a price drop and a concession, almost unchanged from 15.6% a year earlier. The difference between the two numbers is the story. A seller credit does not show up in the recorded sale price, so a market can hold its headline prices while the buyer's effective cost falls.

Sun Belt versus the coastal tech hubs

The 29 metro areas in the study split into two very different markets. Atlanta leads at 72.8%, followed by Charlotte at 67.9% and Phoenix at 67.4%. Phoenix also posted the largest annual rise, 15.3 percentage points. At the opposite end, only 4.2% of sales in San Jose and 5.7% in New York involved a concession, and San Francisco stood at 18.6%. The share rose in 20 of the 29 metros. Seattle moved furthest the other way, down 21.4 points, yet 48.5% of its sales still carried a seller concession.

Miami, which Glopra tracks as a separate market, sits close to the national figure at 43.8%, 4.0 points higher than a year earlier.

How this lines up with our market data

In our latest snapshot, the typical US home value is USD 369,678 and the typical asking rent USD 1,948 a month, both Zillow figures for August 2026. That pair gives a gross rental yield of 6.32%, and 5.65% after the 10.66% effective tax on rental income we apply to a standard non-resident landlord. Prices are up 2.2% over twelve months and 85.2% over ten years. Our bubble score for the country is 57, in the moderate band.

For the Miami metro area the same Zillow pair is USD 477,919 and USD 2,666 a month, a gross yield of 6.69%, with prices up 2.27% in a year and a bubble score of 75, in the elevated band. When four in ten sellers are paying part of the buyer's costs, a price index rising 2.27% overstates what the seller actually walks away with.

Reading the figure with care

The data cover sales handled by Redfin agents, not every US transaction, and each monthly figure is a rolling three-month average. The national increase of 2.1 percentage points is modest; the spread between metros is the stronger signal. A higher concession share points to buyers with more bargaining power. On its own it says nothing about where prices go next.

Sources: Redfin, Nearly Half of Homebuyers Get Concessions From Sellers as Most Markets Tip in Buyers' Favor, by Dana Anderson, 18 September 2026 https://www.redfin.com/news/home-seller-concessions-august-2026/

Market data: Miami (metro area) · United States · Texas