Real estate data technology company Clear Capital has announced a permanent layoff of 108 employees at its Roseville offices at 1410 Rocky Ridge Drive.
The company reported the layoff to the state’s Employment Development Department this week. The layoffs take effect Dec. 16, according to the notice to EDD.
The move is a result of decreasing activity in new mortgage and refinance activity in the wake of increasing interest rates, which are now on average 6.8%, more than double what they were just over a year ago. Higher rates have spurred other layoffs locally at mortgage companies.
In a news release about new technology in August, Clear Capital said it had more than 1,400 employees across four subsidiaries: Clear Capital, Clario, CubiCasa and REO Network.
“Clear Capital is restructuring all company divisions to reduce expenses and support our future business strategy amidst today’s housing market reality,” said Clear Capital CEO Duane Andrews, via email.
“This will allow us to refocus the business on key areas and ensure we are on track for sustainable growth," he said. "The impact of a rising interest rate environment in the mortgage industry has resulted in a significant decrease in volume from our customers, which has forced us to make some difficult decisions. We are working closely with each employee during this transition."
Clear Capital is not closing the Roseville office, he said. It has consolidated operational teams to Reno and will continue to offer the Roseville office as a hybrid working space and meeting location.
The layoffs are not just in Roseville. The company said it's laying off 27% of its workforce.
Clear Capital has offices in Reno, where it moved its headquarters in 2015, as well as Roseville, Truckee and Bloomington, Minnesota. The company was founded in Truckee in 2001.
Last year, Clear Capital was on a hiring spree. It had hired more than 350 new employees as the housing market boomed with low interest rates and the pandemic.
Through much of the pandemic, a majority of its employees worked remotely. At the end of last year, Clear Capital had about 200 employees assigned to the Roseville office, which the company opened a decade earlier.
Mortgage applications for the week ended Oct. 7 decreased 39% from the same period last year, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey released this week. Refinance applications declined 86% from the same time last year.
The Mortgage Bankers Association survey said a 30-year conforming mortgage interest rate reached 6.81% last week, the highest level since 2006. The survey covers over 75% of all U.S. retail residential mortgage applications.
Mortgage rates have been rising since August 2021, when they were just basis points higher than 3%.
Clear Capital’s primary customers are large, nationwide mortgage companies, mortgage servicers and banks. It provides recent listing and sales prices down to the neighborhood level across most of the country.
It works with a network of independent appraisers and others who can make site visits and collect photos and other information to validate property records for lenders and others in the real estate industry. Its customers are primarily in the U.S.
