Zillow: Property Managers Offering Concessions as Rental Market Cools

(Image courtesy of Zillow; Breakout image courtesy of Gerritt Tisdale/pexels.com)

Zillow, Seattle, released a new report finding that a third of property managers are currently offering concessions to renters as rental price gains slow.

Concessions can include free weeks or months of rent, free parking or other offers to attract renters.

The significant uptick in concessions started last fall and has remained at about one-third since then. Nationwide, almost exactly that number–33.2%–of rental listings on Zillow offered a concession, compared with 25.4% in July 2023.

That number also increased 0.2 percentage point from June.

That comes amid slowing rent increases—with the typical U.S. rent rising 0.4% in July to $2,070, down from 0.5% in June and 0.6% in April and May.

Annual rent growth was down to 3.4% year-over-year in July, compared with 3.5% in June.

“Builders have stepped up and built an incredible number of homes in response to soaring rents during the pandemic, and renters are now seeing the benefits,” said Zillow Chief Economist Skylar Olsen. “Now is a great time for renters to find a deal, with more new apartments hitting the market than at any time in the past several decades. Rents are still growing, but it’s a far cry from the steep rent hikes of two or three years ago, and renters will find sweeteners being offered by more than half of rentals in some places. A slowing job market and lower mortgage rates could mean falling rents if the current trends hold.”

There are six metro areas where more than half of listings on Zillow feature a concession—Raleigh, N.C. (53.3%), Charlotte, N.C. (53.1%), Atlanta (52.2%), Salt Lake City (50.9%), Nashville, Tenn. (50.8%) and Austin, Texas (50.5%).