It is a 20.8% rent cut. Two and a half months free on a twelve-month lease is 2.5 divided by 12. Nobody writes it that way on the listing, and every owner should.
On 22 September 2026, eight of the nine apartment communities on the first page of Zillow's Tampa rental search were advertising a concession. Two were at 2.5 months free. One was at 6 weeks free. Zillow's own label on the Tampa rental market that day was cool. In June, 52.5% of Tampa listings carried a concession, against 39.7% nationally.
| Asking rent | Given away | Effective cut | Effective rent | Across 10 units |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1,500 | $3,750 | 20.8% | $1,188 | $37,500 |
| 2,031 | $5,078 | 20.8% | $1,608 | $50,775 |
| 2,500 | $6,250 | 20.8% | $1,979 | $62,500 |
| 3,000 | $7,500 | 20.8% | $2,375 | $75,000 |
And it does not end at the lease. A resident who signed at an effective $1,608 does not feel like a $2,031 resident at renewal. Concessions leak into the next lease term and into the comps your neighbour uses to set their own.
A concession is a landlord admitting out loud that the unit is not renting. Before the second month free goes on the listing, the cheaper question is: how many of the inquiries on this unit got answered inside a minute? In one quarter, 60.8% of 170,825 calls placed to apartment communities went unanswered. A unit that is not renting and a phone that is not being picked up are, very often, the same unit.
We will count your inquiries and your response times on one property, read-only, for free, and show you the number before you decide anything. Fifteen minutes to set up.