JPMorgan starts cutting jobs in mortgage unit as homebuying demand cools

JPMorgan Chase & Co said on Wednesday it had started laying off employees in its mortgage business, as elevated inflation and rising mortgage rates slow the housing boom in the United States.

More than 1,000 employees will be affected and about half of them will be moved to different divisions within the bank, according to Bloomberg News, which first reported the layoffs.

"Our staffing decision this week was a result of cyclical changes in the mortgage market," a spokesperson for the biggest U.S. bank said.

JPMorgan has 273,948 employees worldwide, according to its latest quarterly filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

"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," the spokesperson added.

Last week, the Federal Reserve hiked interest rates by three-quarters of a percentage point, the largest increase since 1994, after official data just a few days earlier showed inflation rose despite expectations it had peaked.

Real estate brokers Compass Inc and Redfin Corp also said last week they would cut jobs as homebuying demand was slowing due to rising mortgage rates and surging inflation.

In May, U.S. existing home sales tumbled to a two-year low as median house prices jumped to a record high - topping the $400,000 mark for the first time.