Housing market layoffs: JP Morgan cuts staff as U.S. home sales slow This July 12, 2011 file photo, shows the JP Morgan Chase and Co. sign at its Manhattan headquarters, New York. AP Photo|Bebeto Matthews The biggest U.S. bank, JPMorgan Chase Co., has started laying off employees as the U.S. housing market continues to cool amid rising mortgage rates. The decision will impact more than 1,000 employees, about half of which will be moved to different divisions within the bank, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified discussing personnel matters, Bloomberg News reported . The move comes as the nation’s booming housing market takes a turn amid record high inflation, spurring the Federal Reserve to take aggressive moves, including a 0.75% bump to its benchmark borrowing rate last week. It was the biggest single rate hike since 1994. Related A U.S. housing bubble is brewing. But it’s not the bubble we know Why is JPMorgan laying off people? “Our staffing decision this week was a result of cyclical changes in the mortgage market,” a spokesperson for JPMorgan said in a statement Wednesday, Bloomberg reported. “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.” Wells Fargo Co., the U.S.’s biggest mortgage lender bank, has also been laying off and reassigning employees in its home lending division, according to people familiar with the company who also asked not to be identified discussing private information, Bloomberg reported .