Homebuyers are getting concessions from home sellers at an increasing rate in Greater Boston as well as nation-wide, according to brokerage and listings portal Redfin.
The site reported that 26.3 percent of Boston-area home sales for the three months ending August 2026 featured a concession. This is a 9.1 percent increase year-over-year. Nationally, 44.7 percent of home sales in August 2026 received a concession, a 2.1 percent increase.
That compares to the 12.6 percent of Boston-area sellers who offered concessions in August through October 2022 as the Federal Reserve reached the midpoint of its post-pandemic rate-high campaign, and the 11.1 percent who offered during that same period in 2023, according to previously published Redfin data.
Redfin’s economics team, which performed the analysis, defined a concession as a home-seller providing “something that helped reduce the buyer’s total cost of purchasing the home,” including money towards repairs, closing costs and mortgage-rate buydowns. By Redfin’s definition, however, “concession” doesn’t include price cuts during the marketing process or during negotiations with a buyer.
Other data from this summer suggests an improving picture for buyers.
The number of active listings in Greater Boston increased by 18.7 percent to 12,671 listings in August 2026, according to Redfin. Nationally, there were over 1.5 million active listings, which represent a 2.7 percent increase year-over-year in August 2026.
And Redfin’s economist team reported that 10.9 percent of home purchases fell through in July 2026 after going pending, a 170-basis-point increase year-over-year.
Across the country, 15.8 percent of homes that sold in August had a price drop in addition to a concession, according to Redfin. It is the highest share of concessions and price cuts in August ever, according to Redfin’s records.




