The “Take It or Leave It” Attitude Is Fading from the Market – What That Means for You

Negotiations are back. More buyers are asking for better deals, and more sellers are giving them. Builders are throwing in extras, too.

That is why whether someone is buying or selling this year, two terms are worth understanding: concession and incentive.

• A concession is something a seller agrees to during negotiations to get a deal done.
• An incentive is a perk a builder, or a seller, advertises upfront to attract buyers.

Here is what the national data shows about both, what a closer look at the Kansas City metro adds to that picture, and how it could shape a move this year.

More Sellers Are Agreeing to Concessions

Nationally, almost half (46%) of homeowners who sold recently gave the buyer a concession, according to Redfin. That is the highest share on record for this time of year. Roughly 1 in 7 (16%) sellers went a step further, cutting the asking price and offering a concession on top (see chart below):

A seller might cover part of a buyer’s closing costs, take care of a repair, or offer a credit that trims upfront costs. It is how sellers keep a deal on track when buyers have more homes to choose from.

Builders Are Cutting Prices, Too

Newly built homes are seeing the same push and pull. According to the National Association of Home Builders, 62% of builders are offering incentives right now, and about 35% are cutting prices outright (see chart below):

Those incentives often look like:

• Price adjustments
• Mortgage rate buydowns
• Free upgrades, like nicer finishes or appliances

Danielle Hale, Chief Economist at Realtor.com, explains why:

"New construction has been one of the steadiest parts of the housing market over the past few years, but builders are clearly responding to today's affordability pressures and higher levels of existing-home inventory."

Even builders, who many buyers assume rarely negotiate, are competing on price and perks. The same data shows this is the 15th straight month where more than 60% of builders have offered incentives. That is a sustained shift, not a one-month blip.

What the Kansas City Metro Data Shows

The national concession numbers describe an average across the country. They do not describe the Kansas City metro specifically, and the county-level data KCRAR reported through ShowingTime for June 2026 tells a different story in most of the eight-county metro.

Homes in Johnson County closed at 101% of original list price in June, and Clay County closed at 100.4%. Jackson, Platte, Douglas, and Leavenworth counties all closed between 98.5% and 99.1% of list price. Only Miami County, the smallest and most rural of the eight, closed meaningfully below full price, at 94.9%.

That matters because sellers who are still receiving full or nearly full asking price generally have less reason to offer the kind of concessions showing up in the national Redfin data. A seller getting 101% of list price in Johnson County is negotiating from a very different position than a seller nationally, even one in a metro where inventory has grown.

Inventory is part of why. Months of supply across the KC metro ranged from 1.8 in Clay County to 2.7 in Leavenworth County, all well under the five to six months that typically signals a balanced market. Homes are also still moving quickly, with days on market ranging from 28 in Wyandotte County to 59 in Miami County.

None of that means concessions are off the table everywhere in the metro. Miami County’s lower list-price recovery and longer days on market suggest more room to negotiate there than in Johnson or Clay counties. But metro-wide, the Kansas City market has not shifted toward buyer concessions the way the national data suggests.

What This Means for Your Move

Buyers relying on national headlines about concessions could be setting expectations that do not match what is actually happening in most of the Kansas City metro. Asking for a concession is still reasonable, particularly on a newly built home or in a county with more room like Miami, but assuming a seller in Johnson or Clay County will automatically negotiate on price or terms is not supported by the current data.

Sellers should also not assume they need to match national concession trends. A seller in Johnson County closing at 101% of list price with under two months of supply is negotiating from a position of real leverage. A seller in Miami County, where homes take nearly twice as long to sell and close further below asking, may need to be more flexible to get a deal done.

Builders remain the clearest exception. Whether the buyer is looking at new construction in Johnson County or elsewhere in the metro, builders nationally have offered incentives for 15 straight months, and that trend applies broadly regardless of resale conditions in a given county.

Bottom Line

Nationally, sellers and builders are giving buyers more to work with this year. In the Kansas City metro, that is only true in parts. Johnson and Clay counties still favor sellers, while Miami County looks closer to the national picture.

Munkel Real Estate Solutions tracks county-level KCRAR data every month for exactly this reason: a buyer or seller working from national concession trends alone could misjudge what is actually negotiable on a specific street in the Kansas City metro.

Sources: Redfin; National Association of Home Builders; Realtor.com; KCRAR ShowingTime county data, June 2026.