- Zillow is backing out of the home-flipping business and will be winding down Zillow Offers.
- The company has listed hundreds of homes in key markets for less than it paid, our analysis showed.
- Here's everything you need to know about what happened, what's coming next, and why you should care.
If you've been paying attention to real-estate news lately, you may be asking yourself some version of this question: What the heck is happening at Zillow?
It's been a rough few weeks for the $21 billion real-estate giant. On October 18, the company announced that its instant buying, or "iBuying," division, Zillow Offers, would cease buying up homes for the rest of the year.
After two tumultuous weeks – during which an Insider analysis revealed that of the nearly 1,000 homes Zillow recently listed for sale in its five biggest markets, 64% were being marketed for less than the company originally paid for them – that pause turned into the complete shuttering of Zillow Offers.
The "wind down" of Zillow Offers was announced after the market close on Tuesday, when Zillow's share price dropped about 12%.
If you're wondering why the company started buying homes, what might have gone wrong, how Wall Street is reacting, or what this all means for regular buyers and sellers, you've come to the right place. Below, you'll find all of our Zillow coverage in one place.
First, we are scouring Zillow's third-quarter earnings and listening to executives field questions from analysts on November 2.
We'll be updating this page with the latest Zillow news as soon as we have it, so make sure to check back regularly.
Okay, so what happened with Zillow?
This story really starts in 2018, when Zillow got into the then-nascent instant buying, or "iBuying," business. iBuying refers to the process in which deep-pocketed, tech-enabled companies buy up homes, complete light renovations, and then sell them for a gain.
Zillow has bet big on this strategy. Though it has yet to turn a profit through home-flipping, Zillow Offers raked in $1.47 billion in revenue in the first half of 2021.
Zillow's announcement of its home-buying pause initially sent its stock sliding. It recovered, but then stumbled again after analysts cast doubt on the Zillow Offers' division's bottom line. On November 2, after the market close, Zillow announced it would shutter Zillow Offers and lay off 25% of its staff.
The decision has highlighted the challenges the company faced when it comes to iBuying.
Our analysis of Zillow Offers listings in the company's five biggest markets showed that Zillow is potentially headed toward millions of dollars in losses from its iBuying operations:
- In Phoenix, 93% of Zillow-owned listings were priced below what the company originally paid.
- In the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area, Zillow was listing two-thirds of homes for less than it paid.
- Zillow also appears poised to take losses on the majority of its listings in Houston and Dallas.
Wall Street analysts and property-technology experts have predicted more pain will be evident in Zillow's third-quarter earnings, released on November 2.
Why does it matter?
For sellers, Zillow has offered a convenient - and sometimes lucrative - chance to sell a home quickly. Real estate agents across the country have reported cases of Zillow paying well above the expected market value of a home, meaning big paydays for some sellers.
We first zeroed in on five Zillow Offers listings across the country to get a sense of what it looks like when Zillow overpays for a property.
Insider also recently spoke to a couple of real-estate professors about where Zillow might have made mistakes, and what its iBuying halt could mean for both buyers and sellers.
Has Zillow been intentionally manipulating the housing market? One viral TikTok creator seems to think so. The real-estate professors weighed in on that, too.
Even though Zillow is pumping the brakes, the pool of iBuyers snatching up properties and reselling them across the US is still teeming with competition. Get to know the major players by reading this story.
What's next?
Before Zillow shut down its iBuying arm, it was reportedly looking to offload 7,000 homes to an unnamed buyer - or buyers - for $2.8 billion.
If Zillow does sell the homes to investors, that could exacerbate a lack of supply in the market.
Institutional buyers have already been prolific in their home purchases over the past year.
Check back here for an update on Zillow's third-quarter earnings, which will be released November 2.
