One of the largest mortgage lenders in the country is laying off about 400 of its consumer mortgage banking employees as home sales slow and interest rates continue to rise.
JPMorgan Chase is cutting employees in Jacksonville, Florida; along with Phoenix; and Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio, according to the Wall Street Journal. In August, Wells Fargo said it was laying off 650 mortgage employees.
Parts of the mortgage banking industry have slowed down, attributed to a combination of factors, including rising home prices, a lack of homes on the market, and fewer mortgage delinquencies.
Those delinquencies fell 22 percent year over year for JPMorgan’s customers in August.
And as some major banks pull back on mortgage lending, nonbank lenders — which are less regulated — are becoming more popular, accounting for nearly half of all mortgages in the U.S. in 2016. [WSJ] — Katherine Kallergis