Zillow to stop home-flipping amid pricing ‘unpredictability’

By ALEX VEIGA
AP Business Writer

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Zillow Group says it will stop buying and selling homes, citing the unpredictability of forecasting housing prices. The Seattle-based real estate information company said Tuesday that it will wind down its Zillow Offers unit, a process that will take several quarters and will result in about a 25% reduction in the company’s workforce. Zillow CEO Rich Barton said the unpredictability in forecasting home prices far exceeded what the company anticipated, adding that scaling the business would lead to too much earnings volatility. The announcement comes about two weeks after Zillow said it would pause buying homes through the end of 2021, citing a backlog in renovations and other operations due to labor and supply constraints.