diff --git a/src/style/style.js b/src/style/style.js
index 8a1e7181bd6..50f1d9b21a0 100644
--- a/src/style/style.js
+++ b/src/style/style.js
@@ -954,7 +954,7 @@ class Style extends Evented {
 
     _updatePlacement(transform: Transform, showCollisionBoxes: boolean, fadeDuration: number) {
         let symbolBucketsChanged = false;
-        let placementChanged = false;
+        let placementCommitted = false;
 
         const layerTiles = {};
 
@@ -985,17 +985,20 @@ class Style extends Evented {
             this._layerOrderChanged = false;
         }
 
-        if (!this.pauseablePlacement.isDone()) {
+        if (this.pauseablePlacement.isDone()) {
+            // the last placement finished running, but the next one hasn’t
+            // started yet because of the `stillRecent` check immediately
+            // above, so mark it stale to ensure that we request another
+            // render frame
+            this.placement.setStale();
+        } else {
             this.pauseablePlacement.continuePlacement(this._order, this._layers, layerTiles);
 
             if (this.pauseablePlacement.isDone()) {
-                const placement = this.pauseablePlacement.placement;
-                placementChanged = placement.commit(this.placement, browser.now());
-                if (!this.placement || placementChanged || symbolBucketsChanged) {
-                    this.placement = placement;
-                    this.collisionIndex = this.placement.collisionIndex;
-                }
-                this.placement.setRecent(browser.now(), placement.stale);
+                this.pauseablePlacement.placement.commit(this.placement, browser.now());
+                this.placement = this.pauseablePlacement.placement;
+                this.collisionIndex = this.placement.collisionIndex;
+                placementCommitted = true;
             }
 
             if (symbolBucketsChanged) {
@@ -1004,12 +1007,9 @@ class Style extends Evented {
                 // placement is already stale while it is in progress
                 this.pauseablePlacement.placement.setStale();
             }
-
-        } else {
-            this.placement.setStale();
         }
 
-        if (placementChanged || symbolBucketsChanged) {
+        if (placementCommitted || symbolBucketsChanged) {
             for (const layerID of this._order) {
                 const styleLayer = this._layers[layerID];
                 if (styleLayer.type !== 'symbol') continue;
diff --git a/src/symbol/placement.js b/src/symbol/placement.js
index fca2e781cd7..eef09402770 100644
--- a/src/symbol/placement.js
+++ b/src/symbol/placement.js
@@ -61,17 +61,16 @@ class JointPlacement {
 class Placement {
     transform: Transform;
     collisionIndex: CollisionIndex;
-    recentUntil: number;
     placements: { [string | number]: JointPlacement };
     opacities: { [string | number]: JointOpacityState };
     commitTime: number;
+    lastPlacementChangeTime: number;
     stale: boolean;
     fadeDuration: number;
 
     constructor(transform: Transform, fadeDuration: number) {
         this.transform = transform.clone();
         this.collisionIndex = new CollisionIndex(this.transform);
-        this.recentUntil = -Infinity;
         this.placements = {};
         this.opacities = {};
         this.stale = false;
@@ -204,7 +203,7 @@ class Placement {
         bucket.justReloaded = false;
     }
 
-    commit(prevPlacement: ?Placement, now: number) {
+    commit(prevPlacement: ?Placement, now: number): void {
         this.commitTime = now;
 
         let placementChanged = false;
@@ -242,7 +241,15 @@ class Placement {
             }
         }
 
-        return placementChanged;
+        // this.lastPlacementChangeTime is the time of the last commit() that
+        // resulted in a placement change -- in other words, the start time of
+        // the last symbol fade animation
+        assert(!prevPlacement || prevPlacement.lastPlacementChangeTime !== undefined);
+        if (placementChanged) {
+            this.lastPlacementChangeTime = now;
+        } else if (typeof this.lastPlacementChangeTime !== 'number') {
+            this.lastPlacementChangeTime = prevPlacement ? prevPlacement.lastPlacementChangeTime : now;
+        }
     }
 
     updateLayerOpacities(styleLayer: StyleLayer, tiles: Array<Tile>) {
@@ -362,16 +369,13 @@ class Placement {
     }
 
     hasTransitions(now: number) {
-        return this.symbolFadeChange(now) < 1 || this.stale;
+        return this.stale ||
+            now - this.lastPlacementChangeTime < this.fadeDuration;
     }
 
     stillRecent(now: number) {
-        return this.recentUntil > now;
-    }
-
-    setRecent(now: number, stale: boolean) {
-        this.stale = stale;
-        this.recentUntil = now + this.fadeDuration;
+        return this.commitTime !== 'undefined' &&
+            this.commitTime + this.fadeDuration > now;
     }
 
     setStale() {