BAM Key Details:
- Redfin data shows 46.2% of U.S. home sellers gave concessions to buyers in May 2026, the highest May share on record, up from 43.1% a year earlier.
- Nashville led all markets with a 75.5% concession rate, while New York had the lowest at 2.9%.
- Nationally, 15.7% of May home sales included both a price drop and a concession, up from 12.8% a year earlier and also a record high for that month.
Nearly half of all U.S. home sellers handed buyers a concession in May, the highest share Redfin has recorded for that month in its history.
According to Redfin’s latest report, 46.2% of home sales included a seller concession in May 2026, up from 43.1% a year earlier.
There are currently 47% more sellers than buyers in the U.S., and with mortgage rates and home prices still historically high, buyers have more leverage than they’ve had in years.
Listings are piling up, and sellers in most markets are competing hard to get deals done.
Here’s where concession rates are highest and where they’re lowest.
Why Concession Rates Are at a Record High
The supply and demand imbalance is driving everything, and it runs deepest in the Sun Belt. Those metros built aggressively to meet pandemic-era demand and are now sitting on excess inventory.
Rising climate risk has also pushed up homeowners’ insurance costs and HOA fees across many of those same markets, making ownership even less attractive to already-hesitant buyers.
On top of that, widespread economic uncertainty has kept many would-be buyers on the sidelines. Concerns about the Iran war and job security have pulled demand down even further.
When buyers have options, sellers have to compete. Concessions are how they’re doing it.
The 10 Markets Where Sellers Are Giving the Most Concessions
Sun Belt markets dominate this list. Nashville had more than twice as many sellers as buyers in May, making it the nation’s biggest buyer’s market by a wide margin.
- Nashville, TN: 75.5%
- Charlotte, NC: 71.4%
- Atlanta, GA: 68.7%
- Phoenix, AZ: 65.6%
- Raleigh, NC: 64.1%
- Denver, CO: 63.3%
- San Diego, CA: 62.3%
- Orlando, FL: 58.6%
- San Antonio, TX: 59.4%
- Houston, TX: 57.8%
Looking at concession rate increases, Orlando posted the largest year-over-year jump of any metro in the analysis at 20.3 percentage points, followed by:
- Phoenix, AZ: up 14.9 pp YoY
- Nashville, TN: up 13.7 pp YoY
- Tampa, FL: up 12.7 pp YoY
- Charlotte, NC: up 9.9 pp YoY
- Houston, TX: up 9.8 pp YoY
If you’re working in any of these markets, your sellers need to walk into a listing knowing that concessions are likely part of the deal. Set that expectation upfront and you’ll have a much easier conversation when a buyer comes back asking for them.
The 10 Markets Where Sellers Are Giving the Fewest Concessions
New York, Boston, and Chicago are all balanced markets, and San Francisco is one of only seven seller’s markets in the country.
Buyers in these areas don’t have the same leverage, and the numbers back that up, especially for the top three. Baltimore is the only metro on this list with a concession rate higher than the national average (46.1%).
- New York, NY: 2.9%
- San Jose, CA: 5.9%
- San Francisco, CA: 14.9%
- Boston, MA: 26.7%
- Chicago, IL: 27.5%
- Philadelphia, PA: 30.5%
- Miami, FL: 35.7%
- Washington, DC: 42.8%
- Tampa, FL: 44.4%
- Baltimore, MD: 47.0%
Seattle is worth calling out separately. Its concession rate dropped 17.5 percentage points year over year to 48.8%, the largest decline of any metro in the analysis. Buyers there are still getting discounts, but largely through homes selling below original asking price rather than through concessions.
Other metros (after Seattle) with the biggest annual declines in their concession rates:
- San Diego, CA: down 6.0 percentage points YoY
- San Jose, CA: down 5.7 pp YoY
- Austin, TX: down 5.0 pp YoY
- Las Vegas, NV: down 4.4 pp YoY
- Los Angeles, CA: down 4.1 pp YoY
Nationally, 15.7% of May sales had both a price drop and a concession, up from 12.8% a year earlier and the highest May share on record.
In other words, a growing number of sellers are losing on price and still having to sweeten the deal to close.
Most likely, your sellers are going to hear about concessions from buyers. You’re better off being the one who brings it up first, armed with the data to back it up.
