Opendoor beats forecasts, ramps up home purchases 

Opendoor's first-quarter earnings beat its most optimistic forecasts as the company nearly doubled its home purchases year-over-year.

"Our product continues to resonate with customers," said CEO Carrie Wheeler, who noted that the company's market share had also more than doubled. "We entered the second quarter with strong momentum, and we are meaningfully ramping acquisitions in 2024."

Wheeler said the iBuyer remains "on track to durably rescale the business in 2024," a goal she announced earlier this year. 

Although revenue beat expectations, it was down significantly compared to a year ago, but appears to be ramping back up after a slow fourth quarter.

What Opendoor had to say

The changes NAR has agreed to make as part of its commissions lawsuit settlement illustrate the dissatisfaction consumers feel about the traditional real estate transaction, Wheeler said — something she believes will give her company an advantage.

"Opendoor was built for this moment," she said. "We're shaping the future of real estate, empowering consumers to sell and buy with ease through a simple, certain, and transparent offering."

During an earnings call with investors, she elaborated on that message: "This is all about giving more choice and transparency and agency in the hands of homebuyers in terms of how they want to engage with an agent," Wheeler said.

"The reason I think we're so set up well in this context is because we have this direct platform," she added.

Key numbers

Revenue: $1.2 billion, down 62% compared to the first quarter of 2023 and up 36% from the last quarter of 2023.

Cash and cash equivalents: $953 million, down from $999 million at the end of last year.

Net loss: $109 million, a slight deterioration from a $101 million loss the same period last year.

Adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization): A loss of $50 million, improved from a loss of $341 million in Q1 2023.

Units acquired/sold: 3,458 homes purchased, almost double the 1,747 homes purchased in Q1 2023; 3,078 homes sold, down dramatically from 8,274 homes sold in Q1 last year.

Inventory: 5,706 homes with a value of $1.9 billion, down from 6,261 homes valued at $2.1 billion during the same period a year ago.

Notable moves

Opendoor's partnership to integrate its iBuying platform services with eXp's dashboard launched in February.

"It's still very early," cautioned Dod Fraser, president, Open Exchange and Capital at Opendoor. "We're seeing steady weekly growth since launch. … It really helps broaden our reach into the agent community. eXp has 70,000 agents in their network, and they're growing. We are actually quite excited about the brand expansion opportunities."

The company also announced that Eric Feder, president of LEN X and a senior executive at Lennar Corporation, has been appointed to Opendoor's board of directors.

Feder will replace former WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar, who is resigning from the board in June.