11/03/2021
Nov 2021
Zillow is shutting down its iBuyer program (Zillow Offers), according to a recent inman news article. This change will reduce Zillow’s workforce by approximately 25% and is expected to take several quarters. Attached is a copy of the article.
“Our observed error rate has been far more volatile than we thought possible…fundamentally, we have been unable to predict future pricing of homes to a level of accuracy that makes this a safe business to be in.”
Zillow Co-Founder & CEO, Rich Barton
Barton expressed that their iBuyer program was most attractive to Zillow on a very large scale, but this scale would simply require too much equity capital, and the program was not helping their brand image. “…it put Zillow in a position of having to negotiate with consumers for their most emotionally and financially valuable asset, only to have 90 percent of them go do something else, some of them pretty miffed about the brand”, Barton expressed.