Nearly Half of August’s Buyers Got a Seller Concession. What That Means If You’re Selling in California

Most sellers prepare for one negotiation: the price. There is a second one, and it happens after the offer is accepted — over who pays for what. New data released this week says nearly half of August’s buyers won that second negotiation. Inside California, whether it will reach your sale depends almost entirely on where your home sits.

What the new data actually says

• ·44.7% of U.S. home sales in August 2026 included a seller concession, up from 42.6% a year earlier — the highest August share in the data going back to at least 2020 (Redfin, September 18, 2026)
• ·15.8% of August sales included both a price reduction and a concession, the highest August share in those records (Redfin)
• ·Redfin counts a concession as the seller covering closing costs, paying for repairs, buying down the buyer’s mortgage rate, or leaving appliances — not a cut to the list price, which it tracks separately (Redfin)
• ·Figures cover rolling three-month periods ending August 31, 2026, from reports by Redfin’s own buyers’ agents (Redfin)

California is not one market, and here is the proof

Take the Bay Area as the concrete case. In the same August data, the San Jose metro had the lowest concession share in the country at 4.2%, down from 10.2% a year earlier, and San Francisco came in at 18.6%. Elsewhere in California that month (all figures Redfin, August 2026):

• ·Sacramento — 53.3% of sales with a concession
• ·Los Angeles — 56.2%
• ·San Diego — 57.1%, down from 62.4% a year earlier
• ·Riverside — 58.0%

One state, one month, one rate environment, and a spread of more than 50 percentage points. Advice that opens with “sellers are giving concessions right now” is useless until you know which number describes your street.

Why buyers are asking

Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey put the 30-year fixed at 6.95% on September 17, 2026, up from 6.76% the week before and 6.26% a year earlier. At that level buyers shop by monthly payment, and a credit steered into a rate buydown moves the payment differently than the same dollars taken off the price. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau describes the mechanism plainly: “Paying points lowers your interest rate, compared to the interest rate you could get with a zero-point loan at the same lender.”

The buyers are still there, just fewer of them. The National Association of Realtors’ Pending Home Sales Index for August, released September 17, 2026, rose 0.3% nationally and 3.0% in the West month over month, while running 4.7% below a year ago nationally and 6.7% below in the West. NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun said buyers “steadily entered into contracts in August even though mortgage rates increased,” though “the housing market is still sluggish, with contract signings below last year.” That is his read, not a forecast from us.

There is a ceiling, and your buyer’s lender sets it

A concession is not open-ended. For conventional loans, Fannie Mae’s Selling Guide caps what it calls interested party contributions: on a principal residence or second home, 3% when the loan-to-value ratio is above 90%, 6% between 75.01% and 90%, and 9% at 75% or below. Investment properties are capped at 2% at every ratio. Anything beyond the cap is treated as a sales concession and deducted from the sales price (Fannie Mae Selling Guide B3-4.1-02, updated May 7, 2025).

Government-backed loans follow their own rules. We are a brokerage, not a lender, and none of this is lending, tax or legal advice — confirm the number with your buyer’s lender before you agree to it.

How to plan for it before you list

• ·Ask for the concession pattern in recent comparable closings near you, not the national share.
• ·Decide in advance what you will give and in what form. A credit toward a rate buydown and a price cut of the same dollars are not the same offer to a payment-sensitive buyer.
• ·Treat the first two weeks as the whole listing. The California Association of Realtors’ August 2026 home sales and price report, released September 16, put statewide median days on market at 28. A home still sitting after a month invites more asks.
• ·Price on closings from the last 60 to 90 days. The same C.A.R. report put the Unsold Inventory Index at 3.7 months of supply in August, up 8.8% from July — more choices for buyers means more room to negotiate.
• ·Budget the concession as a line item alongside everything else you pay at close. The rest of that list is in seller closing costs in California.

The one number a buyer cannot negotiate away

You do not set the national concession share, and you do not set your buyer’s lender cap. You do set what it costs you to list.

A traditional listing-side commission of about 3% runs roughly $30,000 on a $1,000,000 home. Guided Home Realty lists your home on the same MLS every agent uses, with a licensed California broker, for a flat $999 at MLS launch (non-refundable) plus $5,000 from escrow when it closes — $5,999 total instead of a percentage. Against a traditional ~$30,000 commission, that is $24K+ you keep. It is also $24K+ of room you still have when a buyer asks for a credit.

See real verified results, then start with a free, no-obligation estimate of your home’s value.