Seattle-based Real Estate Brokerage Redfin Implements New Round of Layoffs
On Thursday, Seattle-based real estate brokerage Redfin made the decision to impose another round of layoffs, as reported by GeekWire.
A spokesperson from Redfin confirmed that fewer than 100 employees were impacted by the layoffs. The cuts primarily affected the company’s Concierge service, support staff, and sales managers. Some of the affected employees have been offered positions as agents within the company.
“As we continue to expand our team of Redfin Next agents and empower our current agents to be more self-sufficient, the need for support and managerial staff has decreased,” the spokesperson explained to GeekWire. “Additionally, Redfin is decentralizing operations for our Concierge service.”
In response to the increase in commission lawsuits nationwide, brokerages like Redfin have been restructuring their compensation plans to retain and attract agents. The Redfin Next plan, launched in October 2023, allows agents to earn commission splits of up to 70% on self-generated leads and up to 40% on leads from the Redfin website. These agents are W-2 employees with benefits such as health insurance and 401(k) matching. The plan has expanded to new markets, including 25 additional markets this month.
This marks the third significant round of job cuts for Redfin in recent years. In June 2022, 500 employees were laid off due to a rising interest rate environment, followed by another 200 layoffs in April 2023.
Financial struggles continue for Redfin, with a reported loss of $27.9 million in the second quarter of 2024, slightly higher than the $27.4 million loss in Q2 2023. While revenue and gross profit have increased year over year, the stagnant housing market conditions in 2024 have raised concerns. CEO Glenn Kelman even mentioned the possibility of drastic measures if the market does not improve.