Apartment concessions in Philadelphia beginning to ease from winter highs

 By Brenda Nguyen CoStar Analytics

While rental concessions across Philadelphia's apartment sector remain well above historical levels, landlords across the city’s most in-demand neighborhoods are starting to dial back renter specials in 2026.

Over the past several years, developers added thousands of new units across such urban neighborhoods as Center City, Northern Liberties and Fishtown. As new units flooded into the market, landlords increasingly relied on incentives, such as free rent and move-in specials, to lease up their available units and maintain occupancy, rather than cutting rents outright.

Concession rates measure the discount off asking rent that renters receive through free rent and other incentives, such as gift cards or moving credits. The relationship between new supply, vacancy rates and concessions is particularly evident in Philadelphia's most heavily developed neighborhoods.

Citywide, the apartment vacancy rate stands at 8.5%, while the concession rate is 4.4%.

In Center City, where apartment vacancy is lower, at 7.7%, the concession rate is roughly 4%. Northern Liberties, the city's most actively developed neighborhood, reports the highest vacancy rate at 15.3% and a concession rate of 7.6%. Fishtown shows a similar pattern, with vacancy at 10.7% and concessions near 6.4%.

Those discounts have been shrinking since last winter. In Northern Liberties, concessions dropped from a winter peak of 11.2% to 7.6% this summer. Fishtown saw a similar decline, falling from 8.6% to 6.4% over the same period.

With renter demand still robust and apartment vacancy tightening across these neighborhoods, concession rates are expected to ease further in the coming year, building on the momentum already seen since winter. In the meantime, renters can still find specials in these neighborhoods, while they last.

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