The housing market is becoming increasingly favorable to home buyers after years of favoring sellers. Hopeful home shoppers these days are facing less competition and fewer bidding wars. They’re also getting more concessions. In fact, according to a recent online report, sellers gave concessions in 45 percent of home sales in August, up from 43 percent one year ago and the highest share since 2020. What does that mean? It means buyers are seeing better deals – especially for new homes. In the Southeast and West, where home building had been booming, builders are offering to buy down mortgage rates and provide appliances in an effort to lure hesitant home buyers. Concessions have become so common in cities like Atlanta, Charlotte, Phoenix, and Las Vegas that the vast majority of sales include them, with a good share also throwing a price cut into the mix. But that isn’t true everywhere. On the coasts, they’re much less common. Cities like San Jose and New York show fewer than 10 percent of sales include concessions, with other major metros showing a similar share. (source)
