The same day Seattle-based real estate companies Zillow and Redfin announced a $100 million partnership, Redfin disclosed it would lay off 450 employees in the process.

Zillow said in an earnings call Tuesday that it would become the sole provider of multifamily rental listings on Redfin and its subsidiaries, ApartmentGuide.com and Rent.com. Rentals are a growing business for Zillow, which reported 25% annual revenue growth for its rentals segment in the final three months of 2024.

A subsequent regulatory filing from Redfin on Tuesday disclosed the terms of the deal. Zillow will pay Redfin $100 million to become the exclusive partner for multifamily rental listings.

Redfin said in the filing it will have to restructure its rentals segment for the partnership which will result in $18 million to $21 million in expenses for the company. Employees in its rentals business will be laid off between February and July.

Very few of the layoffs will affect Washington employees, a Redfin spokesperson said in an emailed statement Thursday. Affected employees will be eligible for severance and health insurance support.

“A layoff of this magnitude is painful, but this partnership is best for our customers and for Redfin overall,” the spokesperson said. “Our focus remains on building the best online home search, and pairing it with the best brokerage, lending and title service.”

As of 2023, Redfin had 4,693 employees, according to its most recent annual report. The company will release its next annual report at the end of February.

In November, during Redfin’s third-quarter earnings, the company reported a net loss of $33.8 million and CEO Glenn Kelman apologized to shareholders. The loss, a 78% increase compared with the same quarter of 2023, was a result of the expansion of the Redfin Next pay plan for real estate agents, Kelman said.

This is the second round of layoffs at Redfin this year. The first was last month and it hit 46 employees, mostly in leadership roles, GeekWire reported.

Redfin also laid off hundreds of employees in 2022 and 2023 as the housing market cooled and the company stopped its home-flipping business. The company announced in June 2022 that it was laying off nearly 500 employees, followed up by 862 employees in November 2022. In April 2023, Redfin laid off an additional 201 people.

©2025 The Seattle Times. Visit seattletimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.