Following the latest round of layoffs, Homepoint has shrunk its workforce from about 4,000 workers in summer of 2021 to about 1,000 in fall of 2022.
The wholesale lender last week laid off 913 employees, according to a review of Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification notices filed in Arizona, Florida, Michigan and Texas. Over the last year it has also sold off large chunks of the business – including servicing to ServiceMac and delegated correspondent to Planet Home Lending – which accounts for several thousand workers transitioning to new firms.
The company’s headcount is down about 40% from pre-pandemic levels of about 1,500, a Homepoint official said. It’s down about three-quarters from summer of 2021, when the Ann Arbor, Michigan-headquartered lender had about 4,000 workers overall.
Most of the employees laid off last week worked remotely, and separations will begin on Nov. 1. Eliminated positions include post-closing auditors, underwriters, loan coordinators, and document review specialists.
The workforce reduction is forecast to save more than $100 million annually for the lender, whose parent company Home Point Capital reported losses of more than $44 million in the second quarter of 2022.
Amid the shrinking loan origination environment caused by high mortgage rates, Homepoint has also been hit hard by an aggressive pricing initiative triggered by United Wholesale Mortgage.
With UWM cutting prices between 50 to 100 basis points across all loans since the end of June, Home Point Capital CEO Willie Newman acknowledged that “competitor actions have added to the challenges of a down origination cycle resulting in historical lows in market level margins,” in its most recent earnings call.
“We are not afraid to get smaller as an organization,” Willie said, indicating further cost reductions and liquidity actions.
Home Point Financial ranked 15th on Inside Mortgage Finance’s list of top purchase mortgage lenders in the first six months of 2022. The lender originated $12.2 billion in volume as of June 2022, down 18.5% year-to-date.
