Franklin, Tenn. — October 4, 2026

Home sellers are giving ground in more ways than a lower asking price. In Redfin buyer-agent transactions for the three months ending Aug. 31, 2026, seller concessions appeared in 44.7 percent of sales, up from 42.6 percent a year earlier and the highest August reading in Redfin’s series going back to at least 2020. Redfin defines a concession as seller help that lowers the buyer’s overall purchase cost—closing-cost credits, repair contributions, or mortgage-rate buydowns—not a negotiated cut to the contract price itself.

That distinction is increasingly practical. Realtor.com’s September housing trends report found that 20.8 percent of active listings carried a price reduction, the highest September share since 2018 and the highest reading for any month since October 2022. Active listings rose 5.4 percent year over year to roughly 1.16 million homes, narrowing the inventory gap versus 2017–2019 norms to about 9.1 percent. Pending sales, however, fell 4.1 percent from a year earlier—the sharpest annual decline since March 2025—as financing costs remained elevated. Buyers gained negotiating room on the real-estate side of the deal even as the mortgage payment stayed hard to stretch.

Sellers appear more willing to adjust than to abandon the listing. National Mortgage Professional, summarizing the same Realtor.com data, noted that fewer than 6 percent of listings were pulled from the market in September, roughly unchanged from a year earlier. Rather than withdrawing, more sellers are cutting price, offering credits, or doing both. Redfin separately reported that 15.8 percent of homes in its August sample carried both a seller concession and a price reduction, the highest August share in its records.

Geography still decides how much leverage a buyer actually has. In Redfin’s 29-metro concession sample, Atlanta led at 72.8 percent of transactions, followed by Charlotte at 67.9 percent and Phoenix at 67.4 percent. San Jose and New York remained near the bottom, at 4.2 percent and 5.7 percent. Redfin also estimated the United States had 57.9 percent more home sellers than buyers in August—the widest national gap in its records dating to 2013—and classified 36 of 49 metros in that analysis as buyer’s markets, including a large seller surplus in Nashville.

For purchase borrowers, the useful framing is total cash to close and total monthly cost, not the headline contract price alone. A seller credit toward eligible closing costs can shrink the check a buyer must bring to settlement. A seller-funded temporary or permanent rate buydown can ease the payment when program rules and underwriting allow it. Those dollars are not unrestricted cash: Fannie Mae’s interested-party contribution rules generally bar using such credits for the down payment, reserves, or minimum borrower contribution, and every major loan type caps how much a seller can contribute. Cap amounts depend on loan program, occupancy, and loan-to-value or down-payment tier; unused credit above actual closing costs does not convert to cash back.

The fall market therefore offers a clearer negotiating toolkit than many recent years, without magically restoring affordability. More listings, more price cuts, and more concessions can help a prepared buyer structure a workable offer. They do not erase the payment math when rates remain high. Buyers who know which form of help they need—and what their loan program will accept—are better positioned to use the leverage the data now show is available in many metros.

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