Zillow Is Rebounding With Home Sales And Stock Buyback

Zillow announced it has sold about half of its backlog of homes and will begin buying back stocks after shuttering its home-flipping arm, Zillow Offers. In a statement, the company said it had already sold or agreed to sell more than half of its properties, hitting a much faster pace than expected. “We are pleased with the progress of our wind-down efforts and recognize that no longer operating Zillow Offers will allow us to have a more capital-efficient balance sheet and business moving forward,” Chief Executive Officer Rich Barton said in the statement. “We see today as an opportune time to announce a share repurchase program.” Zillow had initially announced it would not buy more homes in 2021, and instead…

Lawsuit Claims Zillow Purposely Mislead Investors With Public Statements

Zillow and some of its top executives are being sued for allegedly making misleading claims in advance of the closure of its iBuying arm, Zillow Offers. Zillow shareholder Dibikar Barua filed a class-action lawsuit against the company in federal court in Seattle alleging that Zillow failed to tell shareholders it was struggling to accurately predict home prices. “Throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and/or misleading statements, as well as failed to disclose material adverse facts about the Company’s business, operations, and prospects,” the suit reads. It claims that Zillow did not disclose the “significant unpredictability in forecasting home prices” the company was struggling to overcome or its inventory backlog, both of which would have signaled to investors that…

Morning Roundup (11/15/2021)– Forbearances Drop Below 2%, Airbnb To Impact Market In 2022

Good Morning! Today is Monday, November 15. The Glasgow climate summit ended with an agreement by nearly 200 countries to cut their carbon emissions in half this decade. An appeals court barred President Biden’s vaccine mandate for large employers. A New York Times report revealed the US hid an airstrike that killed civilians in Syria. And in mortgage and housing news… Forbearances Drop Below 2%: Forbearance exits jumped week-over-week, with nearly 300,000 borrowers leaving their plans, Black Knight reported. Airbnb Will Majorly Impact 2022 Market: Analysts predict Airbnb will expand its inventory 25% in 2022, suggesting it will have a significant impact on the housing market next year. AEI Response: The AEI Housing Center published a response to FHFA’s proposed…