Quarterly layoffs outpaced hirings in real estate finance, with the net loss of jobs in the industry accelerating over the prior quarter. But the contraction in headcount slowed from a year earlier.
At the end of the fourth-quarter 2015, there were an estimated 626,500 people employed in the mortgage industry, according to a Mortgage Daily analysis of government and market share data.
Estimated mortgage staffing
declined from a downwardly revised 640,400 three months earlier. But industry headcount expanded from an upwardly revised 621,800 a year earlier.
More recently, mortgage staffing
fell to an estimated 617,700 as of February 2016.
The fourth-quarter 2015 total
was comprised of 261,800 mortgage jobs at banks, 63,700 home-lending employees at credit unions and 301,000 people working for non-bank mortgage firms.
Estimated Mortgage Staffing by Quarter
| Type |
Q4 2015 |
Q3 2015 |
Q4 2014 |
| Banks |
261,800 |
279,600 |
274,500 |
| Credit Unions |
63,700 |
59,000 |
58,200 |
| Non-Banks |
301,000 |
301,800 |
289,100 |
| Total |
626,500 |
640,400 |
621,800 |
In the Mortgage Daily Fourth Quarter 2015 Mortgage Employment Index report, 1,120 more layoffs were tracked during the final three months of the year than hirings.
Net job losses
accelerated from 921 in the third quarter but slowed from 3,699 in the fourth-quarter 2014.
The
most-recent total reflected 3,335 layoffs, fewer than the third-quarter's 4,797 and the fourth-quarter 2014's 6,651 layoffs.
Also factored in to the fourth-quarter 2015 total were 2,215 hirings, fewer than 3,876 in the previous period and 2,952 during the year-earlier period.
In New Jersey, there were 200 more hirings tracked during the fourth-quarter 2015 than layoffs, giving the Garden State the biggest net gain in mortgage jobs.
Biggest Job Gains by State - Fourth Quarter
| State |
Layoffs |
Hirings |
Net |
| New Jersey |
0 |
200 |
+200 |
| Michigan |
0 |
160 |
+160 |
| Florida |
0 |
149 |
+149 |
| Wisconsin |
0 |
133 |
+133 |
| Missouri |
0 |
68 |
+68 |
With 354 more layoffs than hirings tracked during the final three months of last year, North Carolina fared worst among all states.
Biggest Job Losses by State - Fourth Quarter
| State |
Layoffs |
Hirings |
Net |
| North Carolina |
354 |
0 |
-354 |
| Iowa |
287 |
0 |
-287 |
| New York |
202 |
13 |
-189 |
| Indiana |
80 |
18 |
-62 |
| Utah |
41 |
0 |
-41 |
Among mortgage-related companies, Freedom Mortgage Corp. reported plans to add 400 employees, giving it the biggest net improvement during the most-recent three-month period.
Biggest Job Gains by Company - Fourth Quarter
With a fourth-quarter 2015 net loss of 1,100 mortgage jobs, Bank of America Corp. had the largest net loss.
Biggest Job Losses by Company - Fourth Quarter
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