[Archyde.com]–It turns out that US mortgage lenders, refinancing providers and realtors could fire thousands of employees in the coming months. Several industry sources have revealed. The housing market is chilling as many Americans postpone home purchases due to economic instability caused by the war in Ukraine and rising mortgage rates due to the US Federal Reserve (FRB) raising policy rates.
“Rising homebuying costs due to both rising interest rates and high actual homebuilding costs are declining buyers’ interest,” said Robert Dietz, chief economist at the National Homebuilding Association (NAHB). did.
The number of US pre-owned homes sold in May was the lowest in about two years, but the median selling price rose 14.8% year-on-year to $ 407,600, a record high of $ 400,000 for the first time. I got on the platform of.
Rating agency Fitch expects new home sales to fall by 2% this year. The previous forecast was an increase of 1.8%.
The US housing industry, which employs hundreds of thousands of people, is trying to respond by reducing headcount, and real estate agents Compass and Redfin announced this month that they will each cut hundreds of jobs.
In addition, soaring interest rates on mortgages may reduce refinancing demand, which may have an impact on mortgage lenders.
US financial giant JPMorgan Chase has begun dismissing employees in the mortgage sector because of “circular changes in the mortgage market.” More than 1,000 employees will be affected and about half will move to another department, according to people familiar with the matter.
An executive at LoanDepot, a mortgage lender, said in a June earnings call that it would cut employees to control costs as the market shrinks. Allie Financial officials said they are focusing “only on careful and essential employment.”