Nearly half of all sellers provide buyers with closing cost assistance

As you can see above, an increasing percentage of real estate transactions have some sort of "seller concession" -- which is usually a credit from the seller to the buyer to help pay for closing costs.  Sometimes it could also be related to repairs that have not been completed.

I suppose that while it is true that an increasing number of sellers are providing closing cost assistance to buyers -- it is also likely true (perhaps even truer) that an increasing number of buyers need closing cost assistance.

How much money is changing hands here?  Let's take a look....