July 1 Reuters U.S. mortgage lenders, refinancing companies and realestate brokers may lay off thousands of employees in the coming months, industry sources said, as many Americans put off buying a home.

Low interest rates, stimulus payments and working from home during the coronavirus pandemic had prompted many millennials to hunt for new homes, fuelling a redhot U.S. housing market.

But the market is now cooling amid economic uncertainty resulting from the Ukraine conflict and a jump in mortgage rates as the Federal Reserve raises the cost of borrowing.

We39;re seeing a reduction in buyer interest because of the cost of buying home and that39;s due to both the run up in interest rates as well as the ongoing high cost of actually building a home, said Robert Dietz, chief economist at the National Association of Home Builders.

U.S. existing home sales tumbled to a twoyear low in May but the median house price rose 14.8 from a year earlier to an alltime high of 407,600, passing 400,000 for the first time.

Ratings agency Fitch expects new home sales this year to fall 2, compared to its earlier forecast of a 1.8 rise.

The U.S. housing industry, which employs hundreds of thousands of people, is responding by shrinking.

This month, real estate brokers Compass Inc and Redfin Corp both announced hundreds of job cuts.

And as the rate for the most popular U.S. home loan nears its highest level since November 2008, the effects may spread to mortgage companies as demand…