Anywhere Profitable In Q3

Anywhere kept its quarterly wins coming, reporting its second profitable quarter in a row.

The brokerage conglomerate that owns Corcoran, Coldwell Banker, Century 21 and Sotheby’s International Realty posted a net income of $129 million in the third quarter, according to its earnings report. That’s up from $19 million in the second quarter and up from $55 million in the third quarter of 2022.

The company reported $1.6 billion in revenue, a 12 percent year-over-year decline, driven by a 13 percent fall in transactions over that period. Expenses fell nearly 20 percent to $1.4 billion, down from $1.7 billion last year.

Anywhere was free cash flow positive by $95 million last quarter and its operating EBITDA — earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization — was $107 million, down from $166 million in 2022.

Its adjusted net income was $17 million, a figure which accounts for a $169 million gain on the early debt extinguishment. But its net debt leverage ratio, defined as net debt divided by adjusted EBITDA, was 7.8, up from 3.4 in the second quarter of last year.

CEO Ryan Schneider touted the company’s recent move to “put significant litigation behind us.” The firm in September chose to pay an estimated $83.5 million to settle all claims in two landmark antitrust lawsuits, Sitzer/Burnett v. National Association of Realtors and Moehrl v. NAR, shortly before the former headed to trial.

Executives said litigation costs related to its status as a defendant in the suits had “meaningfully impacted” the company’s operating EBITDA, contributing to a $138 million loss reported for the first quarter.

Commission splits increased 55 basis points year over year and executives predicted full-year splits would increase 50 to 60 basis points above last year’s figures.

Anywhere, which has been on a years-long mission to cut costs, trimmed another $60 million from its budget last quarter, and anticipates $200 million in savings by year’s end.

Executives reiterated their belief that transactions will gain on last year’s figures in the last months of the year, but that total volume will end up 15 percent to 20 percent down from 2022.

“With the weaker market and higher mortgage rates in the latter part of Q3, we now think this will end up towards the worse part of that range,” the company said.