Powerhouse lender and servicer New Residential Investment Corp. has reduced hundreds of job positions in its mortgage division, less than a year after acquiring the multichannel lender Caliber Home Loans.
In total, NewRez LLC, the publicly traded company’s mortgage arm, is laying off 386 employees, about 3% of the division’s workforce, a company spokesperson confirmed Tuesday.
“As we continue to create synergies between companies, we are creating a structure to streamline business channels and create long-term growth,” the NewRez spokesperson wrote in an email to HousingWire.
News of the layoffs comes just weeks after Sanjiv Das stepped down as CEO of Caliber Home Loans. Citing sources, HousingWire reported in late January that Das’ resignation was always expected following the acquisition.
NewRez agreed to acquire Caliber in a deal valued at $1.675 billion in April and closed the deal in August. The deal came together after the previous owner, private equity firm Lone Star Funds, failed to take Caliber public due to instability in the market. NewRez was also considering an IPO of its mortgage division after a difficult 2020.
Caliber was a heavy-hitter across multiple origination channels, with $80 billion in originations and $153 billion in servicing in 2020. Caliber was best known for its distributed retail footprint and its fair amount of business in correspondent and wholesale channels.
When he announced the deal last year, Michael Nierenberg, head of New Residential Investment Corp., said that Caliber would add customer-retention capabilities (it had a 54% recapture rate in 2020), a network of talented underwriters and back-office staff, plus a relevant servicing book.
According to Inside Mortgage Finance, NewRez/Caliber had 3.7% of market share in 2021, putting the company as the sixth-largest mortgage originator by volume in America. Before the acquisition, the company was ranked the 16th-largest lender.
Gain-on-sale margins have narrowed significantly for mortgage originators in the last two quarters, and numerous other lenders have also begun to lay off workers and streamline operations.
