Zillow confirms more layoffs amid housing-market slowdown
By Mike Murphy
Zillow Group Inc. confirmed more layoffs Wednesday, as the real-estate services company grapples with a slowdown in the housing market.
Bloomberg News reported Wednesday that Zillow laid off 300 employees, or about 5% of its workforce. Zillow confirmed the cuts in an email to MarketWatch.
"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," a Zillow spokesperson said. "We're still hiring in key technology-related roles across the company."
The housing market has slowed markedly in recent months as the Fed has sharply raised interest rates, putting mortgages out of reach for many prospective first-time homebuyers. Mortgage applications have dropped 1.7% this week as mortgage rates hit 7%, their highest since 2001, according to data Wednesday from the Mortgage Bankers Association. New home sales fell 10.9% in September, according to Commerce Department data, which added that new home sales are down by 17.6% year over year.
Earlier this year, Zillow said it expected to cut its workforce by 25% this year as it unwound its disastrous home-buying business.
Zillow isn't the only real-estate company to cut staff recently; rival Redfin (RDFN)laid off nearly 500 employees in June, and online real-estate brokerage Compass Inc. announced it would cut about 450 jobs, or 10% of its workforce, in September.
Zillow stock has been slammed this year, with Class A shares (Z) tumbling 51% and Class C shares (Z) off 52%, compared to the S&P 500's roughly 20% loss in 2022.
-Mike Murphy
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 27, 2022 07:23 ET (11:23 GMT)
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