California-based PennyMac Financial Services Inc., a mortgage originator and servicer, will cut 207 jobs in the Golden State.
According to Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) notices submitted to California’s Employment Development Department, 59 loan officers will be cut. The notices, mostly written on April 28 and reviewed by National Mortgage Professional, show that the loan officers losing their jobs work in the Westlake Village, Roseville, and Pasadena offices.
Other positions being cut include the titles of analyst, designer, and manager, as well as a vice president for servicing. Those losing their jobs work in offices in Moorpark, Roseville, Pasadena, and Agora Hills.
PennyMac submitted the forms for the job cuts in its Agora Hills offices on May 9. All the notices were signed by Stacy Diaz, the company's executive vice president for human resources.
Most of the layoffs are coming in the Thousand Oaks office, where 77 people will lose their jobs. Those affected in Thousand Oaks hold the titles of analyst, assistant vice president, vice president, and senior vice president.
PennyMac, in a statement about the job cuts, said, "Following a measurable industry-wide reduction in U.S. mortgage applications, originations and refinancing, PennyMac is continuing an ongoing review of its operational workforce needs. Unfortunately, as a result of decreasing consumer demand in the transitioning mortgage market, targeted, demand-based reductions are being made. All affected workers are being offered severance and access to health insurance as a bridge to new employment."
PennyMac’s first-quarter earnings, reported earlier this month, showed its net income down 54% year over year, at $173.6 million, down from $376.9 million in last year’s first quarter.
While PennyMac Chairman and CEO David Spector called the earnings “solid,” he added that “the unprecedented increase in mortgage rates resulted in lower overall industry origination volumes and left originators and aggregators who still hold excess operational capacity competing for a much smaller population of loans.”
Freddie Mac reports that 30-year fixed mortgages have gone from 3.92% in mid-February to 5.25% last week. According to Bankrate, the national average 30-year fixed rate is 5.48%.
