ZipRealty, a real estate brokerage company that offers service discounts to sellers and rebates to buyers, on Thursday reported a net loss of $1.7 million, or 8 cents per share, in the second quarter ended June 30, 2008. That compares to a net loss of $1 million, or 5 cents per share, in the same quarter last year.
The company continues to grow its pool of agents, and agent count increased by 274 from March 31 to June 30, the company reported. Agent count also grew from 2,070 agents at the end of second-quarter 2007 to 2,559 agents at the close of second-quarter 2008.
Net revenues fell 2.7 percent, from $31.3 million in second-quarter 2007 to $30.4 million in second-quarter 2008. The total value of real estate transactions that the company closed fell from $1.41 billion in second-quarter 2007 to $1.32 billion in second-quarter 2008. The total number of transactions closed grew 17.4 percent year-over-year in the second quarter to 4,681, while average net revenue per real estate transactions closed fell 16.6 percent to $6,381.
ZipRealty expects revenues for the full year from $114 million to $118 million. And the company reported that it expects a full-year net loss between $8.9 million to $10.4 million in 2008, according to the earnings report. For the six-month period ended June 30, ZipRealty reported a net loss of $8.9 million, compared to a net loss of $4.1 million for the same period in the prior year.
Pat Lashinsky, ZipRealty president and CEO, said that although the company is "still facing industry headwinds," managers are pleased at the company’s increase in transaction volume and the traffic to its Web site.
ZipRealty reported that the company extended its operations to Long Island, N.Y., in the first quarter and opened shop in Hartford, Conn., in July. ZipRealty has operations in 35 market areas in 20 states and in Washington, D.C.
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