Company: BLND
Filing Date: 2025-03-13
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0001855747-25-000017
Chunk: 128

Company: Blend Labs, Inc.
Filing Date: 2025-03-13
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1A
Chunk 128
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 typically impacts demand for mortgage and mortgage-related products. Increases in interest rates due to efforts by the Federal Reserve to manage rising inflation, combined with ongoing supply constraints, resulted in a decline in mortgage origination activity in 2023 from 2022. As a large portion of our revenue is driven by mortgage and mortgage-related transaction volumes, changes in mortgage origination volumes have had, and are likely to continue to have, material effects on our business. The number of mortgage loans and refinances has been and may continue to be affected by negative trends in the general economy in the United States and abroad, including conditions resulting from changes in gross domestic product, financial and credit market fluctuations, the potential recessionary environment and macroeconomic uncertainty, increased interest rates, the availability and cost of credit, reductions in business and consumer confidence, stock market volatility, increased unemployment, political turmoil, pandemics, natural catastrophes, warfare, such as the current war in Ukraine and the potential effects of sanctions, the current conflict in the Middle East, and terrorist attacks on the United States, Europe, the Middle East region, the Asia Pacific region or elsewhere, and any such decrease in mortgage origination volumes is likely to have an adverse impact on our business.

Increases in market interest rates have, and will likely continue to, adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations. 

Increasing interest rates have adversely impacted the spending levels of consumers and their ability and willingness to borrow money. In most cases, higher interest rates have led to higher loan rates charged to consumers, which has adversely affected the ability of our customers to generate volume and in turn, the number of transactions enabled through our platform and thus our ability to generate revenue from such transactions. As a result of high interest rates in recent periods, consumers and financial services firms were less inclined to borrow money for mortgages, and to refinance existing mortgages, which resulted in less engagement with our platform and/or our services. While in 2024, the Federal Reserve lowered the federal funds rate by 75 basis points, easing monetary policy for the first time in four years, any further actions by the Federal Reserve or consumers are speculative and difficult to predict with certainty. Further notwithstanding any improvement in interest rates, we have experienced in the past, and may continue to experience in the future, a reduction in the volume of transactions enabled through our platform and the value of title orders processed. In addition, while we have cut expenses to align our business to the operating environment and as we continue to evaluate our expense base going forward,