Hemnet Pauses Share Buyback Amid Board Turnover And Listings Drought

The Swedish real estate portal Hemnet has paused its share buyback program amid a board shakeup and declining listing volumes.

According to the company's investor relations site, the portal operator has decided to pause the buyback program of up to SEK 600 million ($61 million) in order to "provide Hemnet with full financial flexibility during a transformative phase".

News of the pause comes hot on the heels of an Extraordinary General Meeting called by shareholders Vor Capital and Sprints Capital Management on the 2nd of September, at which four board members, including former REA Group CEO Tracey Fellows and former Rightmove boss Nick McKittrick, resigned.

More than any other real estate portal operator, Hemnet's share price has suffered in the last 12 months as the sector-wide AI fears have been compounded by invigorated competitors and a cultural shift in how early real estate listings are marketed on the leading real estate portal.

Sweden is a vendor-paid market where sellers are ultimately responsible for paying the portal to market their home and agents can earn commission from the portal for upselling visibility packages. Since floating on the Nasdaq Stockholm in 2021, Hemnet took advantage of these market dynamics to increase its average revenue per listing by more than 400% by the end of 2025.

In its fourth-quarter report, Hemnet admitted that it had seen a 26% slump in listing volumes on site as sellers increasingly chose to try their luck via 'pre-market' schemes and save on Hemnet fees. To combat the dwindling listing volumes, the company has been rolling out its 'sell now, pay later' scheme, which sees the portal realise revenue later in the transaction.

Much like Zillow's attempts to keep listings on its site, Hemnet's scheme has not been without controversy. Over the summer, in the face of regulator scrutiny, Hemnet agreed to drop a rule that required sellers to post their listing on the portal no more than two days after it went live on the agent's website.

With its shareholders' collective gaze now firmly on its listing numbers, Hemnet has committed to monthly updates. August's numbers were not great as the number of listings dropped 15% year-on-year and the number of paid listings dropped by a third despite the average revenue per paid listing rising 7%.

CEO Jonas Gustafsson blamed "calendar effects" leading to a situation "where buyers are active, but new listings are held back by cautious sellers".