Vacation Real-Estate Markets Are ‘Toast’ Because of the Pandemic as Airbnb Owners Rush to Offload Their Homes, Redfin CEO Says

As the company reopens its iBuying division, Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman sees opportunity for iBuyers in beach towns

by Jacob Passy
Market Watch

Redfin is the latest real-estate company to jump back into the iBuying game after a coronavirus-related shutdown.

The Seattle-based brokerage said Thursday that its RedfinNow segment, which provides instant offers to home sellers to purchase their properties, would resume home-buying activities. In doing so, Redfin joins fellow iBuyers Opendoor and Offerpad in re-entering the housing market. Zillow also said Thursday that it would slowly relaunch its iBuying arm, Zillow Offers, in the coming weeks.

So-called iBuyers represent a small but growing share of the overall real-estate market. Nearly 7% of homes sold in Raleigh in the third quarter of 2019 were bought by iBuyers, according to a December report from Redfin, more than any other market nationwide.

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