Realtor.com, the second most visited website for real estate listings in the U.S., is laying off an undisclosed number of employees due to a recent slump in the housing market.
In an email that was sent to the company’s employees and shared with SFGATE, CEO David Doctorow said slowing sales volume in the real estate market has led the company to take the “difficult step” of reducing its workforce.
“While we remain bullish on the long-term potential of what is a $200 billion addressable market, we must always take prudent steps to drive improved efficiency, including now,” Doctorow said in the email.
Though a spokesperson for Realtor.com declined to share how many employees were let go, Doctorow’s email indicated that the layoffs impacted both regular and contracted employees across most of the company’s locations and functions. Laid-off employees are being offered a “generous severance,” including a continuation of their health care benefits and comprehensive career counseling.
Realtor.com is headquartered in Santa Clara. About 200 of the company’s approximately 2,500 employees live in the Bay Area, according to LinkedIn.
Housing markets across the country have slowed as mortgage rates rise, and the Bay Area has seen some of the biggest impacts of this trend. According to Redfin data, San Francisco and Oakland are the only metro areas in the country to have seen a year-over-year decline in the median home sale price, with prices falling 1.5% in Oakland and 2.8% in San Francisco since 2020.
Realtor.com isn’t the only large real estate company to lay off employees due to the market slowdown — Compass and Redfin both laid off hundreds of employees in June.
