Redfin is once again cutting jobs as the housing market cools.
The Seattle-based brokerage and listing site on Tuesday laid off 201 people, or about 4% of Redfin’s employees. The company cited the downturn in the housing market and “economic uncertainty.”
The cuts are the latest to hit Seattle’s real estate industry since interest rate hikes began to slow the housing market last summer. Redfin laid off 500 employees last summer and nearly 900 workers in November, including 75 in Washington. Zillow also cut jobs last fall.
The market continues to lag: In King County last month, the median home price was down 10% from March 2022 and the number of pending home sales was down 33%.
Redfin declined to say Thursday how many laid-off employees worked in Washington. The company said layoffs affected “limited groups, primarily real estate support.” In posts on LinkedIn, employees working in recruiting, training, sales and support roles for agents said they had been laid off. Redfin reported 5,572 total employees at the end of last year.
“The people leaving Redfin have been wonderful colleagues, and if they wanted to return, we’d welcome them back in a stronger housing market,” a company spokesperson said in a statement.
The layoffs were first reported by GeekWire.
Redfin and Zillow both posted losses last year, and both have shuttered their house-flipping operations. Redfin’s net loss in 2022 was $321 million, more than double its $110 million loss the year before.
This story has been updated to clarify job types affected by layoffs.
