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ERROR: type should be string, got "https://www.barrons.com/articles/zillow-will-start-buying-homes-again-because-the-housing-market-has-passed-the-worst-of-it-51588895735\nZillow Will Start Buying Homes Again Because the Housing Market Has “Passed The Worst of It”\nShaina Mishkin\nMay 7, 2020 7:55 pm ET\nPhotograph by Chris Goodney/Bloomberg\nZillow Group ‘s sales doubled year over year, though the company reported a loss in first-quarter earnings on Wednesday. Still, the real estate company is so upbeat about the housing market’s outlook that it has decided to start buying homes again even as the pandemic continues to take its toll.\nShares of Zillow (ticker: ZG) dropped in after hours trading after the company reported $1.1 billion in sales, a 148% gain year over year, but a loss of $0.78 per share.\nWhile the coronavirus crisis led to volatility in the housing market in March, Zillow CEO Rich Barton told Barron’s he’s confident the housing market has passed through the worst of coronavirus and that the company will resume its program that buys and sells homes. “All of this data says to us, yes, we have passed the worst of it,” Barton told Barron’s.\nThe Zillow Offers program, which competes with similar iBuying platforms like Opendoor and Offerpad, will start buying homes again “within the next few weeks,” the company said ahead of its earnings call with investors Wednesday afternoon. Both Opendoor and Offerpad also recently announced a return to operations.\nZillow paused its homebuying program in March, citing “concerns for public safety and rapid developments by governments that restrict local real estate activities.” While the company stopped buying homes, it continued to sell those it already owned, selling 2,394 in the first quarter—fewer than the 2,707 it says it sold in the fourth quarter of 2019—according to the company’s earnings report.\nTo ensure safe transactions, the company will resume home purchases market-by-market, Barton said.\nZillow’s CEO is bullish on the housing market’s rebound. “Forget the stock market for a second—who knows what’s gonna happen there—but from a consumer health perspective and emotional perspective, we’ve passed peak fear,” the CEO told Barron’s. He cited double-digit growth in site visits and the ability to operate digitally if a second wave of Covid-19 comes as reasons for optimism.\nThe residential real estate industry started showing signs of trouble in mid-March, as jobless claims skyrocketed and consumer spending dropped in the wake of lockdowns meant to contain the coronavirus pandemic. The normally busy spring homebuying season came to a halt by nearly all metrics as applications for a loan to purchase a home fell and 90% of realtors said buyer interest dropped. Since then, there have been some faint signs of a rebounding market, with home purchase applications increasing for the third week in a row, even as jobless claims continue to mount.\nThe company reported $1.1 billion in sales for the first quarter of 2020, beating analyst consensus of $1.05 billion, and a generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) loss per share of $0.78, below analyst estimates of a loss of $0.62 per share, according to FactSet.\nZillow stock was down 1.4% after the close.\nWrite to Shaina Mishkin at shaina.mishkin@dowjones.com\nZillow Group‘s sales doubled year over year, though the company reported a loss in first-quarter earnings on Wednesday."