Zillow Group’s attempt to streamline the home buying experience by offering all facets of the transaction process on one platform has hit a road bump. The real estate listing giant announced on Monday that it is sunsetting its title and escrow provider, Zillow Closing Services.
“Integrating the real estate transaction to make buying and selling simpler for customers remains our core strategy and we believe offering title and escrow is a critical component,” a Zillow spokesperson wrote in an email. “However, we determined our current offering through Zillow Closing Services isn’t the integrated product we believe customers and partners need, so we are sunsetting our current Zillow Closing Services operations while we explore more tech-forward solutions.”
The company previously noted that it is exploring both acquisitions and in-house builds as it looks to bring its housing super app vision to life.
Zillow Closing Services had been operational in an undisclosed number of markets nationwide, with the Zillow “enhanced markets” of Raleigh, Denver, Atlanta, Phoenix, Durham and Charlotte as its primary markets. The firm will finish processing all of the title and closing orders in its queue before fully shuttering.
As a result of the shutdown, Zillow is cutting 80 positions. All impacted employees will receive eight weeks of pay, plus one addition week of pay for each year of completed service at Zillow Group. The affected employees will also receive three paid months of COBRA premiums, a lump sum in consideration of the next equity vest, and outplacement services through Waldron.
This is Zillow’s largest round of layoffs since it cut 300 positions in late October 2022, a move that occurred as the firm pivoted to focus on its housing super app.
During the first quarter of 2023, Zillow reported revenue of $469 million, down 13% year over year, for a net loss for the quarter of $22 million.
