Despite the critique and skepticism that followed Zillow’s decision to bow out of iBuying late last year, the real estate tech giant has come out on the other side better for it, reporting significant revenue growth thanks mainly to Zillow Offers.
Related: Zillow Looking to Ease the Homebuyer Journey Post-iBuying
According to its latest earnings report, the Seattle-based company earned $3.9 billion in Q4 of 2021—a 392% jump from the $789 million during the same period in 2020. Zillow’s annual revenue also climbed 144% last year, with the company earning $8.1 billion.
The shining star of the company’s earnings last quarter and for the entire year stemmed from its homes segment, including Zillow Offers. Zillow reeled in $3.3 billion in Q4—up 1,006% from the same period in 2020—and $5.9 billion annually due to its iBuying operation, which the company began winding down late last year.
“We are selling homes faster than we anticipated at better pricing levels than we projected,” said Zillow co-founder and CEO, Rich Barton, during a Feb. 10 investors call.
Barton indicated that Zillow has sold or entered into agreements to sell more than 85% of its inventory during the call.
“We felt confident in November, and we feel even more confident today that exiting iBuying and eliminating housing-market-balance-sheet risk to our company and shareholders was a great decision,” Barton added.
Barton also took a large amount of the call to address questions regarding “next steps” for the company now that it has stepped away from algorithmic house flipping.
The chief executive claimed his company’s focus would be on making it easier for people to move through a multi-year plan to build a “housing super app” that will help reduce the friction of finding and buying a home for the Zillow users.
Based on the report, Zillow recorded 198 million average monthly unique users on its mobile apps and websites during Q4.
“We all know that moving is complicated and time-consuming and full of loops and hoops to jump through in a disjointed and opaque process,” Barton said. “Our customers will be able to do everything within the Zillow ecosystem. That’s the dream we’re building towards.”
Barton also indicated during that call that the company aims to bring in $5 billion in revenue by 2025.
Despite the quarterly and overall growth in earnings, Zillow’s net loss in 2021 totaled about $528 million, up from $162 million in 2020. The homes segment lost $881 million in 2021, up from $320 million in 2020.
Jordan Grice is RISMedia’s associate online editor. Email him your real estate news to jgrice@rismedia.com.
