Redfin shares fall 7% after real estate earnings disappoint

Redfin, the real estate brokerage site, saw its shares tumble about 7 percent in after-hours trading, shortly after sharing its earnings.

The company posted about $109.5 million for the third quarter. Analysts surveyed by Yahoo Finance had been expecting about $110.6 million. Adjusted earnings per share were 12 cents, missing the 13 cents predicted.

“The market is kind of rough,” CEO Glenn Kelman told TechCrunch. He blamed sluggish real estate markets in some of its key metros.

The newly public business may have disappointed Wall Street, but it’s still growing. Revenue was up 35 percent from last year and net income nearly doubled, from $5.7 million to $10.6 million.

In a previous interview with TechCrunch following its July IPO, Kelman referred to the business as an “Amazon of real estate.” Both companies are based in Seattle, and like Amazon is for shopping, he wants Redfin to be a one-stop shop for all things real estate.

Redfin makes money by taking a cut of the home sales generated by its site. It also recently introduced a mortgage origination business.

“Starting to write loans has just been a lot of fun,” said Kelman.

He also touted the company’s diversity efforts, saying that it is placing a focus on hiring more female engineers and “people of color.”

Real estate is “like the whitest profession in the world,” said Kelman. “We employ 2-3 times more African Americans than most real estate brokerages.”

Greylock, Madrona Ventures and Tiger Global were the largest shareholders at the time of the IPO.

Redfin shares closed Thursday at $23.20, still healthily above its $15 IPO price.