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A new report says half of Boston-area homes sold below the original listing price in 2025, suggesting buyers could get a noticeable discount this spring.
An analysis by brokerage Redfin’s economists found 45.7 percent of residential properties sold in the Boston metro last year changed hands below the original list price. The average discount on these homes was 6.2 percent. For all homes sold in 2025, the average discount was 0.2 percent.
“Homebuyers in 2026 shouldn’t write off homes that are slightly above their budget because there’s a good chance they’ll get some sort of concession from the seller, be it a price cut, money toward closing costs or funds for repairs,” Redfin Senior Economist Asad Khan said in a statement. “This marks a reversal from the pandemic homebuying frenzy, when house hunters were advised to search for homes below their budget because fierce bidding wars were causing properties to sell far above the asking price.”
Across the United States, 62.2 percent of homes sold last year below the original discount, with the average discount being 7.9 percent. For all homes sold, the average discount was 3.8 percent.
In dollar terms, the typical homebuyer who paid less than the list price in 2025 got a $31,592 discount, which was calculated by applying the 7.9 percent average discount to the median original list price of $399,900. Among all homebuyers (not just those who paid less than the list price), the average discount was $15,196, or 3.8 percent.
Using the same formula, in Greater Boston, buyers received a $46,438 discount on properties that sold below the original list price in 2025.
The study found 26.1 percent of American homebuyers who paid below the list price in 2025 got a discount of 10 percent or more, the highest share since 2012. And 27.8 percent secured a discount of 5 percent to10 percent, the highest share since 2013. The majority of homebuyers (46.1 percent) secured a discount of 0 percent to 5 percent, the lowest share since 2012.
Analyses by economists at listings portal Zillow and separate analyses by Redfin this fall found that price cuts on Greater Boston home listings jumped by double-digit percentages this fall.
And data compiled by The Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman, found that the Boston-area median condominium sale price dropped 4 percent year-on-year in December, and the median condo sale price fell 0.2 percent for the whole of 2025. The region’s median single-family sale price rose only 1.3 percent year-on-year in December, and rose 5.1 percent for the entire year.
