Zillow Group Inc. announced their fourth quarter and end-of-year results for 2021, which exceeded the company’s outlook at a consolidated level and for all three reportable segments.
Consolidated revenue in the fourth quarter was $3.9 billion, and full year 2021 revenue was $8.1 billion. The IMT segment (internet, media, and technology) grew 14% year-over-year to $483 million in the fourth quarter, exceeding the $481 million midpoint of the company’s outlook range.
Home segment revenue also did better than expected, bringing in revenue of $3.3 billion as Zillow’s iBuyer operations wind-down quicker than anticipated. Mortgage segment revenue was $51 million for the fourth quarter — at the high end of the company’s outlook range.
Zillow Group’s mobile apps and website brought in 198 million average monthly unique users, which is roughly flat year-over-year, and drove 2.3 billion visits over the same period, up 2% year-over-year. Full year visits in 2021 reached 10.2 billion, up 6% year-over-year.
Consolidated GAAP (generally accepted accounting principle) net loss was $261 million for the fourth quarter and net loss was $528 million for the full year in 2021. Segment income loss (before income taxes) was $137 million, $342 million and $27 million for the IMT, Home, and Mortgage segments for the fourth quarter. For the year of 2021, net income loss was $545 million, $881 million and $52 million for IMT, Homes, and Mortgages.
Consolidated and adjusted, earnings before income, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) had a loss of $0.4 million for the fourth quarter, but a gain of $195 million for the full year of 2021. By segment, adjusted consolidated EBITDA losses were $220 million for IMT, $206 million for homes, and $14 million for mortgages. For the full year, losses were $853 million, $650 million, and $9 million for IMT, Homes, and Mortgages, respectively.
The fourth quarter consolidated results were driven by higher-than-anticipated margins in the IMT segment and lower than expected inventory losses from the Homes segment. Zillow analysts report, however, that full year results were primarily driven by the IMT segment Adjusted EBITDA margin expanding to 45% from 38% in 2020.
Zillow exited 2021 with cash and investments totaling $3.1 billion, down slightly $3.2 billion from the end of the third quarter, reflecting the impact of $302 million in share repurchases in December under the current $750 million share repurchase authorization, largely offset by the positive cash flow from the IMT segment.
"Zillow has a rock-solid financial foundation and a core IMT business in which we are reporting record profits today. More interestingly, we have major untapped business potential due to our leading audience, brand, partner network, and R&D leadership," said Zillow co-founder and CEO Rich Barton. "In 2021, we estimate that nearly one-quarter of all buyers in the U.S. reached out to connect with Zillow during their shopping process, yet we only generated revenue on an estimated 3% of total customer transactions. We're investing aggressively in innovations that help both buyers and sellers by delivering an integrated set of tech-enabled solutions on our 'housing super app' along with our excellent partners. We know millions of movers today start with Zillow, and in the future, we plan to be with them every step of their journey."
