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The first quarter of 2024 brought varied results across real estate and related sectors. CoStar Group stood out with a 12 percent revenue increase, fueled by Homes.com’s strong performance, indicating solid demand for online real estate services.
In contrast, RE/MAX saw its revenue decline for the seventh consecutive quarter, although it did better than analysts expected. These outcomes underscore the unpredictable nature of the market, influenced by shifting consumer behaviors and corporate strategies.
Companies like Matterport and Opendoor are tweaking their strategies to meet market needs elsewhere. Matterport reduced its losses significantly just before being acquired by CoStar, hinting at possible improvements under new leadership.
On the flip side, Opendoor faced a revenue decrease and higher losses due to a slow transaction period, reflecting challenges in the iBuyer segment. Meanwhile, Rocket Mortgage showcased robust profit and revenue growth, demonstrating the strength of its business model.
This financial performance snapshot reveals how companies are adapting to continue thriving in a fluctuating market.
CoStar Group tallies Q1 revenue growth on success of
CoStar Group, based in Virginia, reported a 12 percent increase in revenue to $656 million for the first quarter of the year. Despite the revenue growth, the company’s net income dropped 91 percent from $87 million in the first quarter of 2023 to just $7 million this quarter.
According to founder and CEO Andy Florance, the growth was largely driven by their residential portal, Homes.com, which contributed $40 million in new bookings. The company manages a diverse portfolio of 15 commercial and residential real estate brands.
Matterport trimmed losses in the months before CoStar
Matterport reported a net loss of $36 million in the year’s first quarter, marking a 36 percent improvement over the previous year. The company’s earnings showed a modest revenue increase of nearly 5 percent, totaling $39.9 million for the quarter. This performance comes as Matterport continues its expansion efforts and moves toward an acquisition by CoStar.
RE/MAX revenue drops for 7th consecutive
RE/MAX Holdings reported a revenue decrease of 8.3 percent to $78.3 million in the first quarter of 2024, surpassing analysts’ expectations, which had forecasted a 9.5 percent drop to $77.26 million. This marks the company’s seventh consecutive quarter of declining revenue.
The earnings update follows the recent leadership change, with Amy Lessinger succeeding former President and CEO Nick Bailey. Lessinger, a veteran within the company, will report to RE/MAX Holdings CEO Erik Carlson.
EXp sees revenue rise, but agent count dips again in
EXp World Holdings announced its first-quarter earnings for 2024, highlighting a key statistic: a decline in agent count. As of March, the company had 85,780 agents, marking a 2 percent decrease from the previous year. This number also represents a drop from the 87,515 agents recorded at the end of the fourth quarter of 2023, continuing a downward trend from the 89,156 agents reported in the previous quarter. This recent report confirms eXp’s first-ever quarter-over-quarter decrease in agent headcount.
Opendoor revenue dips and losses rise amid Q1 transaction
Opendoor experienced a challenging first quarter with a significant downturn in its financial performance, as detailed in its latest earnings report. Revenue dropped to $1.2 billion, a 62 percent decrease from the same period in 2023, and net losses widened to $109 million from $101 million. The company sold only 3,078 homes, down 63 percent year over year, reflecting the impact of a tough real estate market influenced by high interest rates that deterred buyers and sellers.
Expedia adjusts full-year guidance amid slump in Vrbo
Expedia Group, the parent company of Vrbo, met its earnings expectations for the first quarter of 2024 despite a slowdown in lodging bookings, challenges with Vrbo’s transition to a new technology platform and reduced marketing efforts. The company reported $21.0 million in total lodging bookings across all platforms, including Expedia, Vrbo and Hotels.com, marking a 4 percent increase from 2023. Revenue for the quarter reached $2.9 billion, an 8 percent increase from the previous year.
Rocket Mortgage picks up market share — and turns a tidy Q1
Rocket Mortgage is making significant strides in its bid to become the nation’s largest mortgage lender, experiencing robust growth in the first quarter. According to a parent company Rocket Cos. report, purchase loans and refinancing saw double-digit increases. The Detroit-based lender also saw substantial financial improvement, generating $291 million in net income, a notable recovery from the $411 million net loss in the same quarter last year. Revenue surged 107 percent to $1.38 billion.
Anywhere’s revenue holds steady in Q1 amid ‘tough’ housing
Anywhere, a major real estate franchisor, reported stable revenue in the first quarter of 2024, with figures holding steady at $1.1 billion, similar to the previous year. According to the company’s announcement, this consistency in revenue was attributed to an increase in home sale transactions, which balanced out declines in relocation revenue.
Offerpad posts a decline in annual revenue, but improves Q1
Offerpad reported a significant drop in revenue for the first quarter of 2024, with earnings falling to $285.4 million, a 53 percent decrease from the $609.6 million reported in the same period in 2023. Despite this decline, the company managed to significantly reduce its losses, cutting them down to $17.5 million from $59.4 million a year earlier — a 71 percent improvement.
Additionally, Offerpad increased its home acquisitions, purchasing 806 homes compared to 364 in the first quarter of 2023, though home sales decreased to 847 from 1,609 in the same period last year.
Airbnb continues growth as Q1 profit more than doubles to $264M
Airbnb’s revenue rose to $2.14 billion in the first quarter, marking an 18 percent increase from last year, driven by strong travel demand and the early timing of Easter. The company’s profit surged 126 percent to $264 million. Despite a slower growth in nights booked and gross booking value, up 9.5 percent and 12 percent respectively, Airbnb continues to expand rapidly in the short-term rental market.
Despite challenges in the housing market, Compass reported a strong first quarter in 2024, with revenue reaching $1.05 billion, a 10 percent increase from the previous year. The company attributed this growth to a 7.1 percent rise in transactions, outperforming the broader market, which saw a 3.5 percent decline in transactions.
Compass also achieved positive free cash flow for the first time in a Q1, totaling $5.9 million. This achievement suggests that Compass may be on track to meet its annual goal of positive free cash flow, a target it missed last year.
Realtor.com revenue drops 6% as traffic growth remains flat
Move Inc., the parent company of Realtor.com, reported a 6 percent decrease in revenue to $132 million for the fiscal third quarter. News Corp, which owns Move Inc., attributed the decline to higher mortgage rates and other economic challenges. Real estate revenues, making up 80 percent of Move’s total, fell by 5 percent to $105.6 million.
Despite these setbacks, Realtor.com saw a 4 percent increase in lead volume, marking its first annual growth in two years. However, web and mobile traffic remained stable, with 72 million average monthly unique visitors. Meanwhile, News Corp’s digital real estate services segment performed well, with a 7 percent revenue increase to $388 million and a slight 2 percent rise in EBITDA to $104 million, despite higher marketing expenses and currency fluctuations.
Blend trims loss, shrugs off decline in mortgage segment revenue
Blend Labs Inc., a cloud banking software provider, reported a faster path to profitability with significant improvements despite a revenue decline from its mortgage customers. A $150 million cash boost from Haveli Investments helped Blend become debt-free and achieve its best quarter ever for free cash flow and operating income. Despite these gains, the company posted a $20.7 million net loss for the first quarter, which is an improvement over the $66.2 million loss in Q1 2023.
Revenue decreased by 6 percent to $34.9 million, but Blend cut its operating expenses by 49 percent to $39.3 million. While revenue from consumer banking services rose 29 percent to $6.7 million, revenue from title services and mortgage lending services declined by 12 percent and 15 percent, respectively.
Real Brokerage posts sharp uptick in revenue and agent count in
The Real Brokerage, a cloud-based real estate company, experienced a significant rise in revenue, reaching $200.7 million in the first quarter of 2024, an 86 percent increase from the previous year. Gross profit also surged by 92 percent to $20.8 million. Additionally, the company set a new record for recruitment, adding over 3,000 new agents, which boosted its total agent count to 16,680, marking a 67 percent annual increase.
Redfin rides momentum to Q1 revenue bump, beats
Redfin continued its strong performance from the previous quarter into Q1 2024, as reported in its latest earnings release. The Seattle-based company saw a 5 percent increase in revenue year over year, reaching $225.5 million and exceeding analyst expectations by $7.4 million.
Gross margins improved significantly, with a 22 percent annual increase to $70.8 million. Profits from real estate services rose 28 percent year over year to $20.3 million, with gross margins from these services also up 12 percent from the previous year.
Despite these gains, Redfin’s net losses expanded to $66.8 million, a near 10 percent increase from last year and a 65 percent rise from the previous quarter. The net loss attributable to common stock was $67 million.
January cyberattack a $37M weight on loanDepot Q1 2024
LoanDepot, an Irvine, California-based mortgage lender, reported a 7 percent increase in Q1 revenue to $223 million and a 2 percent reduction in expenses to $308 million. Despite these improvements, the company still experienced a $72 million net loss for the quarter, a 22 percent improvement from the previous year.
However, LoanDepot’s first-quarter momentum was significantly impacted by a January cyberattack by the ransomware group ALPHV/Blackcat, which exposed the personal information of 16.6 million people. The attack led to $15 million in direct costs and an estimated $22 million revenue loss due to system downtime, including a 10-day disruption of a customer portal for online loan applications.
On the verge of going private, Doma Holdings is still in the
Doma, a title tech provider, reported a $20.6 million net loss in the first quarter, marking a 46 percent reduction from the $42.1 million net loss a year ago. Despite this decrease, the improvement was marginal compared to the $22.2 million and $20.8 million losses reported in Q3 and Q4 of 2023, respectively.
Although Doma is on track to improve on its $124 million net loss from 2023, the company’s accumulated deficit increased to $639.7 million as of March 31, following significant workforce reductions and the sale of its retail title operations over the past two years.
Growth in residential, rental and mortgage segments lift Zillow in Q1
Zillow Group reported a successful start to the year, with a 13 percent increase in total first-quarter revenue, reaching $529 million. This figure exceeded the midpoint of its projected outlook by five percent. The company saw significant growth across its residential, rental and mortgage segments. The rental segment led in terms of percentage growth, with multifamily revenue rising by 46 percent, contributing to an overall increase of 31 percent in rental revenue, which totaled $97 million.
The mortgage segment also performed well, with a 19 percent increase in revenue to $31 million, primarily driven by a substantial 130 percent rise in purchase loan origination volume through Zillow Home Loans.
Jessi Healey is a freelance writer and social media manager specializing in real estate. Find her on Instagram, LinkedIn, or Threads.
