NEW YORK, NY — Home sellers are leaning harder on incentives to close deals as the market tilts toward buyers, according to new Redfin data. In August, sellers offered concessions in 44.7% of U.S. home sales, the highest August share since at least 2020 and up 2.1 percentage points from a year earlier.
The incentives are no longer limited to routine help with repairs or mortgage costs. Redfin cited examples of an Atlanta agent offering a buyer a weeklong stay in an Airbnb owned by the seller, while a Charlotte, North Carolina, agent offered an all-expenses-paid cruise. The brokerage said some sellers are now pairing concessions with price cuts to make their listings stand out.
Sellers are using vacations, cruises and cash help to win over cautious buyers
Redfin said the most common concessions still include mortgage rate buy-downs and seller-paid repairs, but the spread of incentives has widened as buyers become more selective. Some sellers are adding appliances or offering total concessions worth $10,000 to $20,000, according to the brokerage’s data.
In some cases, sellers are going even further by lowering the asking price and offering concessions at the same time. In August, 15.8% of U.S. homes saw both a price drop and a concession, up from 15.6% a year earlier and the highest level since Redfin began tracking that data point…