Skip to main content

Home  »  US business newsUS Employment News   »   Redfin announces 862 layoffs and closure of its home-flipping business

Redfin announces 862 layoffs and closure of its home-flipping business

Real estate company Redfin

Redfin announces layoffs and closure of its home-flipping business

Real-estate business Redfin has announced a 13 percent workforce reduction which will 862 employees.

The move comes as the housing sector sees a contraction which is likely to continue into 2023.

The Seattle-based business has also confirmed it will shut down its home-flipping division RedfinNow.

READ MORE: FACEBOOK OWNER META TO CUT 11,000 JOBS TO BECOME “LEANER AND MORE EFFICIENT”

An extra 218 people will be let go, but they'll be offered other positions within the firm.

The news comes after the online brokerage firm's shares plummeted to a record low.

In June, the firm had felt the effects of the housing slump, as homebuying demand fell 17 percent year on year.

READ MORE: SOFTWARE SUPPORT COMPANY ZENDESK LAYS OFF 300 STAFF

In response, the company laid off around 470 people in the same month.

Its quarterly loss nearly tripled to $78.1 million in the second quarter from the same period a year earlier and was likely to rise further.

In a message to staff, CEO Glenn Kelman stated that Redfin's business prospects had deteriorated from just a few months before.

READ MORE: STRIPE LAYS OFF MORE THAN 1,000 WORKERS AFTER “OVERHIRING” DURING COVID PANDEMIC

Mr Kelman said: "We plan to keep increasing our share of the market, but that market in 2023 is likely to be 30 percent smaller than it was in 2021.

"The June layoff was a response to our expectation that we'd sell fewer houses in 2022; this layoff assumes the downturn will last at least through 2023."

Redfin was just one of those companies known as iBuyers or instant buyers.

Need Career Advice? Get employment skills advice at all levels of your career

These well-funded tech firms utilize algorithms to make quick cash offers to home sellers.

The business model, promoted by businesses such as Zillow and Opendoor, has recently faced difficulties as companies struggle to sell properties at a profit.

A year ago, Zillow announced the closure of its own iBuying unit and the layoff of over 2,000 employees, or nearly one-quarter of its staff.

Source: Insider

Follow us on YouTubeTwitterLinkedIn, and Facebook.

Tags:
Layoffs