One-third of Philadelphia-area rentals offered free rent or other perks in October

Folks who are looking to rent a home now have more negotiating power, especially heading into the end of the year.

The rental market is typically slower in the fall, but it has slowed beyond what’s expected. An influx of new apartments in Philadelphia and across the country has controlled rent increases and forced landlords to work harder to attract residents. Nationwide, competition among renters has hit an all-time low, according to Zillow.

In the Philadelphia metropolitan area, a third of rental listings in October offered some concession, such as a period of free rent or deals on parking, to attract renters and fill vacancies, according to Zillow. That’s up almost 8% from last year.

Across the country, the share of rentals offering concessions has more than doubled over the last five years — from 16% in October 2019 to a record of almost 38% in October 2024, according to Kara Ng, a senior economist at Zillow.

An increase in concessions means the rental market is getting looser and more favorable to renters, who now have “much more bargaining power,” Ng said.

Especially going into the holiday season when fewer renters are looking to move, “if I’m a rental manager with an empty apartment, I’m very motivated to fill it,” she said.

Some markets are relying more on rental concessions than others. In the Washington metro area, for example, more than half of rental listings in October had concessions, according to Zillow. About 61% of rental listings had them in the Raleigh, N.C., metro area.

On the other end of the spectrum, only about 10% of rental listings in the New Orleans metro area offered concessions.

Despite concessions and a slow rental market, asking rents are still higher than at this time last year across the country and in 48 of the 50 largest metro areas. Rental property owners tend to try concessions before resorting to price cuts on rent.

Nationally, the typical asking rent in October was $2,009, up about 3% from last year. The typical asking rent in the Philadelphia region was $1,868 last month, up almost 4% from last year.

At this time of year, renters are more likely than in the spring or summer to find price cuts and rental incentives. And this year, across the Philadelphia region, 8% of rental homes were vacant during the typically more robust summer season than at the same time last year.

And this vacancy rate was the highest for the Philadelphia metro area since the beginning of 2019, according to Zillow.