JPMorgan Chase Reducing Its Mortgage Staff

JPMorgan Chase & Co. said Wednesday it was laying off some employees and reassigning others in its mortgage business, citing inflation and rising mortgage rates for slowing the U.S. housing boom.

According to Bloomberg News, which first reported the decision, more than 1,000 employees of Chase Home Lending will be affected, including about half that will be moved to different divisions within the bank. 

Ashlei Bobo, a spokeswoman for Chase Home Lending, would not confirm the total number of employees affected but emailed a statement on the company’s staffing changes. 

“Our staffing decision this week was a result of cyclical changes in the mortgage market,” Bobo said. “We were able to proactively move many impacted employees to new roles within the firm and are working to help the remaining affected employees find new employment within Chase and externally.”

JPMorgan Chase has more than 270,000 employees worldwide, according to its latest quarterly filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Last week, the Federal Reserve raised its benchmark Federal Funds rate by 0.75%, the largest increase since November 1994, as part of its continuing effort to slow rampant inflation. 

JPMorgan’s announcement follows job cuts announced last week by real estate brokers Compass Inc. and Redfin Corp. Redfin announced it was cutting 470 jobs, while Compass said it was laying off 450 employees.

Existing-home sales continued their decline in May, falling 3.4% from April and 8.6% from May of last year, the National Association of Realtors said Tuesday. It was the fourth-consecutive monthly decline.

The NAR also said the median existing-home price for all housing types in May was $407,600, up 14.8% from May 2021 and topping $400,000 for the first time ever. It marked 123 consecutive months of year-over-year increases, the longest streak on record.