Report: Movement Mortgage laid off 150-plus employees in March

Movement Mortgage is staying mum on a report saying the company recently laid off more than 150 employees.

A HousingWire report said Movement is laying off operational staff nationwide, cutting about 170 employees in March, including those in processing, underwriting and closing. The report cited multiple company sources. It is unclear how many of those layoffs were at the local office.

This latest news presents a different picture from a few months ago. The company hired more than 520 loan officers in 2021 and funded $33 billion in home mortgages that year. Jason Stenger, chief operating officer, spoke of Movement's focus on purchases and organic growth as a longer-term strategy in a recent interview with the Charlotte Business Journal. At the time, he acknowledged the challenges associated with a lack of housing inventory.

Multiple attempts to reach Indian Land-based Movement for comment were unsuccessful.

Layoffs in the mortgage industry are a growing trend nationwide, as interest rates start to rise and origination volumes cool down. Mark Vitner, senior economist at Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC), attributed the industry slump to a decline in mortgage refinancing. He expects refinances to continue dropping as interest rates go up. The Federal Reserve has already hinted at several more hikes to its own short-term benchmark rate this year.

The Mortgage Bankers Association is forecasting $2.63 trillion in total one- to four-family mortgage originations in 2022, according to a report it released in late March. That's compared to just under $4 trillion in 2021. About 67% of the 2022 origination forecast comes from purchases. Purchases made up just 41% of originations in 2021, with the last couple of years seeing higher demand for refinancing.

In 2018, Movement laid off more than 350 employees in three rounds, including some locally, also due to a struggling mortgage market.

Movement has more than 5,000 total employees, with hundreds based in the Charlotte area.

Movement appears to be hiring in some areas. Its website lists about 20 open positions in the greater Charlotte region, from analysts to support center specialists to technical and development architects.