Home sellers are giving more concessions to buyers — but not in Austin

AUSTIN (KXAN) — A record share of home sellers nationwide are giving concessions to buyers according to a new report, but Austin is bucking the national trend.

According to data from Redfin, 41.9% of home sales in the fourth quarter of 2022 included concessions, such as money toward repairs, closing costs or mortgage rate buy-downs. That's up from 30.9% in the fourth quarter of 2021.

The previous record, 40.8%, was set in the three months ending in July 2020, when the housing market was plunged into uncertainty by the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Buyers are asking sellers for things that were unheard of during the past few years," Redfin agent Van Welborn said. "They’re feeling empowered, partly because their offer is often the only one, and partly because they know sellers have built up so much equity during the pandemic that they can afford to dole out sizable concessions."

Home sellers are also cutting listing prices at record rates too, according to Redfin.

In the last three months of 2022, about one in five homes that were sold were below asking price in addition to concessions. Another 19% had concessions and a cut in the listing price while the home was on the market. About 11% had all three.

All four of the measures are record highs, according to Redfin.

Austin is bucking the national trend, though, and even the trend among other Texas cities.

The share of home sellers that offered concessions increased year-over-year in the Dallas, Houston and San Antonio metros, reflecting the nationwide trend.

In Austin, the opposite occurred. In the last three months of 2021, about 38% of home sales included concessions. In the same time period in 2022, that number fell to 33%.

In fact, Austin saw the greatest drop in concessions of any of the 25 metros included in the Redfin report. Austin's 4.8 percentage point drop was greater than Philadelphia (2.7 pp), New York City (2.4 pp) and Chicago (1.6 pp).

All of the other metros saw an increase in the number of sales with concessions, most notably in Phoenix. The share of home sales with concessions there jumped by 33.2 percentage points.

Meanwhile, concessions are most common in San Diego. Almost three quarters of home sales there —73% — included concessions. That compares to just 13.4% in New York City, the lowest share among any of the metros included in the report.