Opendoor Lays Off 22% of its Workforce

Opendoor will layoff another one in five workers in its second downsizing exercise since November.

560 employees will lose their jobs as the beleaguered iBuyer scrambles to recover from a net loss of $1.4Bn last year—more than double its 2021 $662m net loss—after a significant downturn in home values in a struggling US real estate market.

A statement from the company said:

We’ve been weathering a sharp transition in the housing market — the steepest and fastest rate increase by the Fed in 40 years, the more than doubling of mortgage rates from historic lows, and the hit to home affordability have driven an approximately 30 percent decline in new listings from peak levels last year.

Opendoor uses AI technology to inform its iBuying decisions, and the roles affected will impact primarily operational staff while maintaining Opendoor's technological investments.

It's been a rocky ride for the company, with Eric Wu stepping down from his role as CEO in December to be replaced by CFO Carrie Wheeler.

However, a recent extension of a strategic partnership with the behemoth Zillow may bring some solace.

US-based portals and layoffs have become almost synonymous in the past 12 months.

Redfin has made circa 1500 employees redundant across three rounds of redundancies since June 2022, while Zillow has cut more than 2300 jobs since its iBuying business shutdown beginning November 2021.

Vacasa has cut 280 jobs, while Realtor.com made an undisclosed number redundancies last September.