U.S. Concession Use Narrows for a Third Month as Discount Depth Barely Moves

U.S. apartment concession use narrowed for a third consecutive month in August 2026, while the size of the average discount barely moved. Concessions were offered on 15.4% of stabilized U.S. units, down 0.4 points from July, according to data from RealPage Market Analytics. Usage peaked at 17% in both March and May before turning lower in June. The average concession ticked down to 11% of asking rent from 11.1% in each of the two prior months, leaving it 0.1 points below the deepest reading in a history that runs back to 2010. At 11%, the typical incentive equals about 5.7 weeks free on a 12-month lease.

Both measures remained well above year-earlier levels. Usage sat 1.1 points above the 14.3% showing recorded in August 2025, and the average discount ran 1.3 points above its 9.7% year-earlier reading.

Still, the current discount environment is narrow and deep, rather than a repeat of the performance in the post-Great Financial Crisis period. In March 2010 the average concession was also 11%. The difference is reach. Operators were discounting a tremendous 50% of stabilized units at that point, against 15.4% now. So, while discounts are as deep as they were in the post-recession stretch (for the units that receive them), they currently reach roughly one-third as many units.

Today's pattern is consistent with operators trimming the number of units that carry an incentive before trimming the incentive itself.

Usage eases in every product class

Concession usage eased in every product class in August 2026. Class C usage fell 0.9 points to 19.7%, the lowest monthly reading since December 2025, while Class A fell 0.4 points to 12.9% and Class B fell 0.3 points to 13.7%. The spread between the classes remained significant even with all three moving lower, as Class C usage ran 6.8 points above Class A.

The size of the discount varied far less than its reach, with the average concession ranging from 10.6% in Class B product to roughly 11% in both Class A (11.3%) and Class C (11.2%) units.

Efficiencies remained the most heavily discounted floorplan, carrying concessions on 17.7% of units at an average discount of 12.1%, or more than six weeks free. One-bedroom, two-bedroom and three-bedroom units clustered between 14.8% and 15.8% usage.

The easing arrived alongside steady fundamentals rather than a surge in demand. Occupancy averaged 95.5% in August 2026, and same-store effective rents climbed 0.9% on an annual basis. Still, annual completions of about 340,000 units continued to outpace annual absorption of over 270,000 units in 2nd quarter 2026 as the recent new supply wave continues to work its way through the cycle.

Looking ahead

Despite August 2026's modest dip in the average discount, a side of caution remains in place as to whether we've reached a turn in concession activity.

Two things will show whether August 2026 marked a turn or a pause. The first is whether the average discount follows concession usage lower now that peak leasing season has passed, which would be the clearest signal yet that operators are shrinking incentives rather than simply offering fewer of them. The second is supply. With annual completions declining but still outpacing annual absorption, operators in the heaviest delivery markets have limited room to pull incentives back, and national averages will keep reflecting that until the gap closes. For now, August 2026 reflects a slightly narrower reach in concessions rather than deeper discounts. Fewer units offered incentives, while those that did received roughly the same discount as the month before.