Redfin decided on November 7, 2022, to wind down its home-buying business RedfinNow and reduce its workforce by about 862 employees—13% of its total workforce, according to the company. The move was part of a broader retreat as Redfin sought to focus on its core business amid rising costs of capital and a housing downturn.
What Redfin announced in November 2022
Redfin’s decision date was November 7, 2022. The company disclosed the plan in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on November 9, the same day Axios reported the news. The two dates refer to different events: the company’s decision and its public disclosure.
Redfin said it planned to eliminate approximately 862 positions, or 13% of its total employees. Of those job eliminations, 264 were directly related to winding down RedfinNow. The other cuts were part of a wider workforce reduction, not all attributable to the home-flipping operation. Redfin also said approximately 218 employees whose current roles were eliminated were offered new roles within the company. The figures are Redfin’s reported numbers, and the 13% describes the planned reduction—not a claim that every affected employee was ultimately terminated.
Redfin’s November 2022 Form 8-K gives the workforce and RedfinNow figures. In a separate filing, the company reported approximately 197 lead-agent reductions, representing 9% of lead agents, as part of the broader workforce action.
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Why Redfin shut down RedfinNow
Redfin described the exit as a strategic decision to redirect resources to its core business as the cost of capital rose. In its filing, the company said: “Winding down RedfinNow is a strategic decision we made in order to focus our resources on our core business in the face of the rising cost of capital.”
Redfin tied the wider cuts primarily to macroeconomic conditions. The workforce plan assumed that the housing downturn would last at least through 2023, according to the company’s filing. That makes the decision broader than a response to any one factor: the company cited the capital demands of RedfinNow and economic conditions affecting its business.
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In a March 2023 interview with the Associated Press, CEO Glenn Kelman reflected on the iBuying model, saying, “It shouldn’t have taken a housing market correction to realize how capital-intensive and risky that was.” That was Kelman’s retrospective assessment of the business model, not the company’s original November announcement.
What winding down RedfinNow involved
Closing the business did not mean Redfin could immediately walk away from every home or purchase commitment. The company’s filings described risks associated with existing inventory and purchase obligations, including delays in selling homes, higher carrying and renovation costs, lower sale prices, reduced profitability, and possible disruptions to business relationships.
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Redfin expected to complete the liquidation of RedfinNow inventory in the second quarter of 2023. That was a forecast made at the time, not confirmation of the date the final home sold. Redfin’s later annual filing described the properties segment that included RedfinNow as being wound down, but the available filings do not establish an exact final-sale date.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What the decision meant for Redfin employees
The headline figure—about 862 employees, or 13% of Redfin’s workforce—covers the planned company-wide reduction. The 264 RedfinNow-related job eliminations were a subset of that total. And because Redfin said approximately 218 employees whose existing roles were eliminated received offers for other internal positions, role elimination and termination were not identical for every affected worker.
Contemporary coverage of the announcement is available from Axios. The company’s detailed figures and stated rationale appear in its Form 8-K and Form 10-Q. Kelman’s later comments appeared in the Associated Press interview.
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