Topline
JPMorgan Chase—the nation’s largest bank—laid off hundreds of home lending employees Wednesday, Bloomberg reported, as rising mortgage rates and increased inflation continue to cool a once-hot housing market.
JPMorgan laid off hundreds of home lending employees Wednesday (Photo by Chris Hondros/Getty Images)
Key Facts
A JPMorgan spokesperson confirmed the layoffs in a statement to Forbes, saying its “staffing decision this week was a result of cyclical changes in the mortgage market.”
The company will lay off hundreds of people and reassign hundreds of others, affecting more than 1,000 of its 274,948 worldwide employees, according to Bloomberg, which cited unnamed sources.
A spokesperson told Forbes the company was able to “proactively move many impacted employees to new roles within the firm” and is “working to help the remaining affected employees find new employment within Chase and externally.”
Key Background
The layoffs came after existing home sales fell 3.4% from April to May, marking the fourth straight month that sales declined, according to the National Association of Realtors. NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun said Tuesday home sales have cooled over the last year and are “essentially returning to the levels seen in 2019,” even as the median sale price for an existing home surpassed $400,000 for the first time ever last month. Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve announced its largest interest rate hike in nearly 30 years last week in an attempt to combat inflation, raising rates by 75 basis points. The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate also hit its highest level since 2008 last week, more than doubling from its record low in January 2021.
What To Watch For
Whether other mortgage lenders will lay off employees in the coming weeks, as the home-buying market continues to slow down.
Further Reading
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianbushard/2022/06/22/jpmorgan-lays-off-home-lending-employees-as-housing-market-cools/