Zillow Group is slashing about 300 jobs as the Seattle company looks to curb costs amid a slowing real estate market and broader economic uncertainty.
The cuts were first reported by TechCrunch. Zillow had nearly 5,800 employees as of August.
“As part of our normal business process, we continuously evaluate and responsibly manage our resources as we create digital solutions to make it easier for people to move,” a Zillow spokesperson said in an emailed statement to GeekWire. “This week, we’ve made the difficult — but necessary — decision to eliminate a small number of roles and will shift those resources to key growth areas around our housing super-app.
The company is still hiring in “key technology-related roles across the company,” the spokesperson added.
Many tech companies are laying off employees or slowing the pace of hiring with ongoing inflation and a potential recession looming, following a period of rapid growth during the pandemic for various software providers.
Real estate companies in particular are feeling the impact of rising mortgage rates and slowing home sales. Redfin, another Seattle real estate giant, laid off 8% of its workforce in June, citing “market conditions.”
In August, Zillow said it expected total industry transaction dollar volume to “meaningfully contract year-over-year” in the second half of 2022 due to housing trends. It said revenue from its core Premier Agent business unit was expected decrease more than 20% year-over-year in the third quarter. The company cited lower home purchase demand driven by increases in interest rates, and lower home price appreciation driven by softening demand and growing inventory (though still lower than pre-pandemic levels).
Zillow reports its third quarter results Nov. 2.
The company slashed about 25% of its workforce last year after it decided to shut down its own iBuyer business, Zillow Offers, marking a surprising end to an ambitious home-flipping bet that also resulted in a $405 million write-down. Zillow said it was unable to accurately forecast the price of homes and said the business ultimately required too much capital.
