Zillow’s measured roll-out of homebuying through its iBuyer platform Zillow Offers continued this week, with the Seattle-based real estate technology company announcing it’s once again buying homes in Atlanta, Dallas, San Antonio, Austin, San Diego and Sacramento.
Jeremy Wacksman | Photo credit: Zillow
“Our goal at Zillow is to help people navigate what can be a stressful and complex process, and with Zillow Offers, give them a way to skip over a lot of the hassles and challenges of selling a home today,” Zillow President Jeremy Wacksman said in a statement.
“People still want — and need to — move,” Wacksman added. “With new digital tools and health protocols, Zillow Offers can help people safely unlock the next stage of their lives with greater certainty, control and convenience.”
Zillow — like its competitors Opendoor, Offerpad and Redfin — suspended homebuying in March and made its first move back into the space in mid-May, returning first to Arizona and North Carolina. Later that month, Zillow Offers began buying homes again in Portland, Oregon; Nashville, Tennessee; and Denver, Fort Collins and Colorado Springs, Colorado.
With the initial announcement, the company also said it was returning to home buying in those markets with Regina Benjamin, the former surgeon general of the United States, as a health and safety consultant.
The company also announced new health and safety protocols and a process designed to limit in-person meetings and contact, as part of its “Move Forward. Stay Safe.” initiative.
Zillow’s return to homebuying is coinciding with a steady recovery from the disruption that COVID-19 caused in the housing market. Homeselling is picking back from its significant March and April slowdown and new sale listings are up 19.3 percent, month-over-month.
Traffic to Zillow listings, meanwhile, is up 51 percent from a year ago and new pending sales are up 24.5 month-over-month, which shows buyers are returning to the market as well.
The company plans to roll the homebuying side of Zillow Offers back to all 24 markets on a rolling basis, as more states relax stay-at-home regulations.
