A Compass Realty for-sale sign in front of a house
  • WeWork, Vacasa, and Compass are the latest real-estate firms to lay off employees.
  • The layoffs have impacted more than 13,000 workers and come as demand for mortgages has reached its lowest level since 1997.
  • Insider rounded up 58 of the firms who have cut staff amid a cooling housing market.

If the first weeks of January 2023 are a sign of what's to come, this year could be another brutal one for real estate businesses. 

Last year ended with a whimper as deals that were once profitable for the industry and home purchases that had been affordable for everyday people have been getting slammed by or because of higher borrowing costs.