Mumbai-based real estate portal Housing.com seems to be in more trouble as it is shutting down its rental business. Further, the company intends to cut jobs as it is restructuring operations to focus only on buying and selling of properties.

Housing.com, in an e-mail sent out to employees, said that it is shutting down the operations as it is unable to monetise this section of its platform.

The e-mail, reviewed by BusinessLine , did not divulge specifics of the monetary losses nor the reasons making it a difficult business.

“There is a sluggishness in the industry, but it has to do more with the housing sector than the start-up space,” a source close to the development said.

However, the source declined to be identified, while a number of employees confirmed receipt of the e-mail.

Housing.com, in a separate e-mail, said it was restructuring operations to focus on the home-buying real estate segment to drive further efficiencies across the company.

Job loss likely The restructuring will result in job losses, it said, without providing a number. At present, the company employs about 2,500 personnel.

“Housing.com will now be laser-focused on solving the pain points in home buying and selling, the largest real estate segment, and we are excited about the potential impact our solutions could have on consumers, developers and agents across the country. We will be reorganising the company to fit this new focused strategy and, to this end, expect to reduce our workforce,” said Jason Kothari, Chief Executive Officer at Housing.com.

Founded in 2012, Housing.com gets 8 million hits a month and 1 million verified homes listed to date. It had raised more than $100 million in capital from investors such as Softbank, Nexus Ventures, Falcon Edge, Helion Ventures, Nirvana Ventures, Qualcomm and Russian millionaire Yuri Milner.

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