Online real estate broker Redfin is cutting 862 employees and shutting down its instant-cash-offer subsidiary RedfinNow, another casualty of two-decade high interest rates stoked by the Federal Reserve's fight against inflation. The job cuts amount to 13% of Redfin's workforce, the company announced in a regulatory filing. Redfin also laid off 470 employees in June, blaming slowing home sales. Redfin has slashed more than a quarter of its workforce since April 2022 on the assumption that the housing downturn will last “at least through 2023,” it said in the filing. The average U.S. long-term mortgage rate is hovering around 7%, partially a result of the Fed raising rates six times this year at it tries to stem four-decade high inflation. Fed officials have boosted their benchmark lending rate by three-quarters of a point at its last four meetings, sowing fears that its heavy-handed policy could tip the U.S. into a recession. More rate hikes are expected into next year, though inflation data coming from the government Thursday could play into the Fed's strategy. Though the government recently estimated that the broader U.S. economy returned to growth last quarter, the Fed's actions have chilled a once red-hot housing market. Read the full story here: https://www.king5.com/article/money/markets/real-estate/redfin-layoffs-shutter-redfinnow/281-e0f734d8-f58b-4dca-a718-afee33d8410f