The layoffs continue coming fast and furious at mortgage and real estate companies alike. HousingWire was first to report that Texas-based First Guaranty Mortgage Corporation cut about 80 percent of its team and has stopped accepting new mortgage applications.
Former employees said the national lender has “essentially shuttered.”
HousingWire reports that First Guaranty Mortgage Corporation laid off around 500 employees without severance payment.
In a written statement, a spokesperson for FGMC, which does business as Goodmortgage in retail branches, said the company “made the difficult but necessary decision to institute a reduction in force as the mortgage market faces significant, unexpected, and unprecedented economic pressures.”
The tightening of proverbial belts isn’t just impacting lenders. Following news of layoffs hitting Compass and Redfin, New York-based power buyer Orchard has reportedly laid nearly 100 employees as well.
The layoffs affected about 10 percent of Orchard’s workforce, driven by “mounting economic uncertainty” and the need for Orchard to “get to profitability as soon as possible, so that we control our own destiny,” CEO Court Cunningham said in an internal note to employees, as reported by Inman.
Unlike FGMC, Orchard still very much intends to do business, currently hiring for 50 openings in its mortgage, real estate brokerage, marketing and finance departments.
The news follows weeks of layoffs hitting other mortgage leaders, including about 1,000 positions eliminated at JPMorgan, and reassignments at Wells Fargo. Earlier this Spring, embattled mortgage lender Better.com announced yet another round of layoffs—it’s third wave of staff cuts since late 2021.