Redfin has announced it is retrenching in the face of the coronavirus pandemic, furloughing a large number of its agents across the country and permanently laying off others.

Unlike most brokerages, Redfin employs its agents directly.

In a securities filing, Redfin said it was reducing its headcount by 7 percent overall. CEO Glenn Kelman said in a blog post that the furloughed agents will be brought back on payroll on Sept. 1. Other agents, particularly new agents who hadn’t met customers or completed training, would be let go permanently. Overall, the company’s agent workforce will shrink by 41 percent Kelman wrote, but remaining agents will still be paid the higher base salary the company promised earlier this year.

The company did not immediately return a request for more information.

The discount brokerage is also reducing pay for headquarters and technology development staff by 10 to 15 percent, cancelling bonuses and cutting a small number of positions there.

Kelman said the company’s decision was driven by a slowing residential real estate market and by the temporary bump in unemployment benefits offered to residents in most states via the federal CARES Act stimulus bill, which would let about 75 percent of agents earn more from unemployment than from their base salary.

“To those who have been asked to leave Redfin today, thank you,” Kelman wrote. “I can’t imagine the grief we’ve caused you. I’m sorry we let you down. We’ll fight like wild animals to bring everyone on furlough back.”