Redfin is laying off more workers as housing downturn persists

Redfin has laid off 201 employees, the third time the Seattle-based real estate company has reduced its workforce since June.

The layoffs, which represents about 4% of its workforce, was first reported by GeekWire.

A company spokesperson confirmed the layoffs and told TechCrunch in an email that the roles were primarily in “real estate support” and were “due to the housing downturn and economic uncertainty.”

In a statement, Redfin said the affected employees will receive 10 to 15 weeks of severance, depending on tenure and healthcare coverage for 3 months. After the job reduction, Redfin now has over 5300 employees.

“While another layoff is painful, especially for those leaving the company, Redfin must continue to adapt to the current economic climate,” the spokesperson added. “The people leaving Redfin have been wonderful colleagues, and if they wanted to return, we’d welcome them back in a stronger housing market.”

With mortgage rates well above 6% this year and last contributing to a housing downturn nationally, real estate technology companies have been hit hard.

Last June, Redfin laid off about 470 employees after May demand came in 17% below expectations. At that time, Redfin’s Glenn Kelman said the company didn’t “have enough work for our agents and support staff, and fewer sales leaves us with less money for headquarters projects.”

The company also announced last November that it was laying off 13% of its staff, or 862 people, in response to the continued slowing of the housing market. Notably, Redfin also said then it was shuttering RedfinNow, its iBuying division.

CEO Glenn Kelman wrote in an email to staff at the time: “One problem is that the share gains we could attribute to iBuying have become less certain as we rolled it out more broadly, especially now that our offers are so low…And the second problem is that iBuying is a staggering amount of money and risk for a now-uncertain benefit. We’ve tied up hundreds of millions of dollars in houses that you yourself wouldn’t want to own right now.”

The company’s most recent layoff is on a smaller scale, yet indicative of the ongoing pains being felt by many proptech companies and startups.
Also last November, Opendoor’s laid off 550 people, or 18% of its workforce and Zillow cut 300 jobs in late October.

Redfin is laying off more workers as housing downturn persists by Mary Ann Azevedo originally published on TechCrunch