NEW YORK – On Feb. 10, Zillow Group said it lost $881 million on its algorithmic-driven home-flipping business last year. It was the first earnings report since the real estate company shut down that operation in the fall.

The full company, which includes Zillow’s profitable home-listing and advertising business, posted a consolidated net loss of $528 million in 2021, mostly because of its home-flipping business, Zillow Offers.

In November, the company announced it was closing Zillow Offers because the tech-powered platform failed to accurately predict movements in home prices. Zillow also cut about 2,000 jobs, or one-quarter of its staff, and wrote down losses of more than a half-billion dollars on the value of the remaining homes connected with Zillow Offers.

The company said it generated about $8.1 billion in revenue last year, though Zillow Offers was responsible for about $6 billion of it. CEO Rich Barton said the company would grow revenue by expanding the reach of its financing services and working to get more people to use Zillow to tour homes.

Zillow said it had sold, or had agreements to sell, more than 85% of its remaining inventory of homes from its defunct flipping business.

During the fourth quarter, Zillow lost an average of about $25,000 on every home it sold, before interest expense, though it sold those homes faster and at much smaller losses than it had expected. According to YipitData, Zillow still has about 8,600 homes on its books.

Source: Wall Street Journal (02/10/22) Parker, Will