ML-Implode News - Why mortgage lending at Wells Fargo, Chase and Citi plunged

With earnings from three of the four biggest banks in, one metric stands in sharp relief. Mortgage lending just keeps plunging. In the fourth quarter, mortgage originations at Citi C, +4.16% Â were down 23% compared to a year ago. At Wells Fargo WFC, -1.55% Â , they were 28% lower, and at JPMorgan Chase JPM, +0.73% Â , they were down 30%.
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What's going on? Here's how JPMorgan CFO Marianne Lake described it in her prepared remarks to analysts Wednesday: "Home Lending revenue was down 8%, driven by lower net reduction revenue in a low volume highly competitive environment."
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Mortgage lending is down, mostly because there aren't enough houses for people to buy to sustain a healthy housing market -- although rising rates aren't helping either. Also thanks to those higher rates, the long refinance boom is over

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Why mortgage lending at Wells Fargo, Chase and Citi plunged