Top 10 Cities Where Home Sellers Offer Concessions

As the housing market experiences a shift towards being more favorable for buyers, home sellers are increasingly offering concessions such as home repairs to attract potential buyers.

This trend is particularly prominent in the Pacific Northwest and the Western U.S., with nine out of the top 10 large metro areas in the West region seeing more than half of home sellers offering concessions, according to a recent report by Redfin.

In the first quarter of the year, 44.4% of sellers provided concessions, which is close to the highest level observed since data tracking began in 2019 (45.1% in early 2023).

According to Redfin, the rise in concessions can be attributed to increasing housing costs, economic uncertainty, and a five-year high in housing supply, which has made buyers more cautious.

Agents interviewed by Redfin stated that certain types of sellers, such as condo builders, prefer offering concessions over reducing list prices. Seller concessions can include covering home repairs, buyer’s closing costs, rate buydowns, or providing additional appliances like washers and dryers.

Seattle and Portland ranked highest for seller concessions among the 24 metro areas analyzed, with 71.3% and 63.9% of sellers offering concessions, respectively. Factors such as high mortgage rates, expensive home prices, and economic uncertainty have led sellers in these markets to sweeten the deal for potential buyers.

While seller concessions are more common in certain segments of the housing market, such as condos and new-construction townhomes, they are less prevalent for single-family homes unless the property has been on the market for an extended period.

Top 10 Cities with the Highest Seller Concessions

Here are the large cities with the highest percentage of sellers offering concessions in the first quarter of 2025:

1. Seattle: 71.3%
2. Portland, Oregon: 63.9%
3. Atlanta: 61.5%
4. San Diego: 60.7%
5. Denver: 59.2%
6. Los Angeles: 56.1%
7. Sacramento, California: 52.5%
8. Las Vegas: 51.9%
9. Phoenix: 51.2%
10. Riverside, California: 51.2%

Top 10 Cities with the Lowest Seller Concessions

In contrast, some major business hubs have fewer instances of seller concessions, indicating either lower housing inventory or higher buyer demand, as well as more realistic list pricing by sellers and agents.

These large metros had the lowest share of sales with seller concessions in the first quarter:

1. New York: 5.5%
2. San Francisco: 14.9%
3. San Jose, California: 16.7%
4. Boston: 18.7%
5. Chicago: 26.4%
6. Philadelphia: 27.6%
7. Miami: 33.8%
8. Tampa, Florida: 33.9%
9. Washington: 39.2%
10. Baltimore: 41.4%

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