Does Zillow’s Future Depend on Its IBuying Business?
- Zillow paused buying homes for the rest of 2021, leading to questions about its flipping business.
- A cooling residential market has compounded the unprofitability of Zillow’s iBuying business.
- An analyst said Zillow may acknowledge up to $30 million in lost value on its thousands of homes.
Zillow Group’s iBuying business appears poised for its largest ever write down in the company’s third-quarter earnings report, expected Tuesday, according to analysts and property-technology experts.
Brad Erickson, an equity analyst with RBC Capital Markets who covers Zillow, estimated the company will acknowledge between $20 to $30 million in lost value on the thousands of homes it currently owns.
“They’re clearly losing money on homes and the margins will be worse this quarter,” Erickson said. “They’ll have to write down some…
