The cuts are part of an effort to integrate Homes.com with Homesnap and come at the tail end of a year in which CoStar has moved aggressively into the residential real estate sector.
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CoStar, a commercial real estate giant that has lately moved increasingly into the residential sector, has laid off workers amid a restructuring and “integration” of its Homes.com and Homesnap brands.
The company announced the layoffs in a statement, saying that it cut “approximately 100 duplicative roles” from the Homes.com team. The statement didn’t provide additional information about the roles that were cut, but added that CoStar plans to “increase the net number of employees building Homes.com by 700” over the next year.
The company did not say how many total people currently work at Homes.com, but Inman has inquired and will update as more information becomes available.
Andrew Florance
CoStar acquired Homes.com in 2021. The move followed CoStar’s purchase of portal-maker Homesnap in 2020, and both moves were seen as major offensives in the company’s push into the residential space. Several months after the Homes.com announcement, CoStar CEO Andy Florance also publicly criticized Zillow, insinuating that the portal giant “hijacks” listings and comparing Zillow’s New York City-based site StreetEasy to “blackmail.”
By the middle of this year, CoStar had leveraged its Homesnap purchase to launch its own StreetEasy rival, dubbed Citysnap. The move set up what appeared to be an escalating portal war between two massive real estate companies — though in the months since the rivalry between the firms has been relatively quiet.
The layoffs are part of a process of integrating Homes.com and Homesnap, CoStar explained in its announcement Thursday. The statement notes that the “new Homes.com is a more agent friendly real estate portal alternative,” and that it allows homebuyers to “uniquely select an agent from a comprehensive directory.”
“Today, CoStar Group took steps to combine and streamline the operations and functionality of Homes.com and Homesnap,” the statement added.
David Mele, previously president of Homes.com, will now lead the “combined Homes.com and Homesnap organization,” according to the statement.
Though CoStar framed Thursday’s layoffs as part of a restructuring and growth plan, they also took place against the backdrop of massive job losses across the real estate industry. The losses began in the mortgage sector, as rising rates cooled demand for loans, but have since spread to brokerages, tech firms, franchisors and other companies.
Nevertheless, Florance said in Thursday’s statement that his company is “working to integrate the best of Homes.com with the best of Homesnap and Citysnap.”
“We appreciate the hard work, dedication, and contributions from the entire Homes and Homesnap teams that have helped to grow our residential business,” Florance added. “While this integration will unfortunately impact some of our employees, their work has been integral to creating a product that better serves the industry and our customers.”
