CENTENNIAL, Colo. (KDVR) — The Zillow Group in Centennial is expected to lay off 20 people because the company is shutting down the Zillow Offers portion of its company.

The layoffs will begin on Jan. 3 and continue throughout the year.

“I am writing to provide you with notice that the company expects to permanently eliminate certain employee positions at the Centennial office. This action is due to the elimination of the Zillow Offers business,” Emily Merritt, Manager of People Operations of the Zillow Group wrote in a letter.

The letter was sent by email to the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment, Centennial Mayor Stephanie Piko, and the Chair of Arapahoe County Board of Commissioners.

The company began its Colorado Zillow Offers operations in October 2018.

Zillow announced last week that it will stop buying and selling homes, citing the “unpredictability” of forecasting housing prices.

The Seattle-based real estate information company said the closure will result in about a 25% reduction in the company’s workforce, which is now at about 5,300.

“We’ve determined the unpredictability in forecasting home prices far exceeds what we anticipated and continuing to scale Zillow Offers would result in too much earnings and balance-sheet volatility,” CEO Rich Barton said in a news release.

The company also disclosed it took a write-down of about $340 million because it bought homes during the third quarter at prices that exceed Zillow’s estimates for what those properties will fetch in the future.

The Associated Press contributed to this story