Yorkshire Building Society’s gross mortgage lending rose to £9.7bn in 2024 from £9.2bn in 2023.
According to Yorkshire Building Society’s financial report, the firm provided 41,000 mortgages in 2024, a slight fall from 44,000 in the prior year.
The lender’s mortgage balances came to £49.7bn in 2024, a rise from £46.8bn in 2023. The report stated that this was driven by higher levels of gross lending and improved retention.
Yorkshire Building Society said the launch of its £5k Deposit Mortgage had helped hundreds of borrowers buy their first home.
This, along with its traditional mortgage deals with larger deposits, meant a third of its new residential mortgages were for first-time buyers.
The number of mortgage accounts with more than three months in arrears, including possessions, was 0.5% – in line with last year’s figures and below the industry average of 0.97%.
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The firm said it expected the “cost of risk to trend upwards, reflecting the nature of our more purposeful lending and the absence of expected credit loss write-backs recognised in 2024”.
The profit before tax came to £383.7m, a decrease from £383.7m in the prior year. The mutual said it expected to “return to more normalised levels of profit” due to the “lower interest rate environment”.
Susan Allen (pictured), chief executive of Yorkshire Building Society, said: “Yorkshire Building Society’s solid performance has continued in our 160th year. Throughout our history, we have focused on helping generation after generation find a place to call home and improve their financial wellbeing.
“We’re a proud mutual, with no external shareholders, so our profits are returned to our members through higher savings rates, and reinvested in our products, services and communities.”
She continued: “We know through our own research that homeownership is moving further out of reach for many people, and that nearly one in five UK adults have less than £100 in savings.
“Against this backdrop, the support we provide is extremely important in helping our members and customers find a place to call home and build their financial wellbeing.
“We will continue to provide value to our members and champion their long-term interests, exploring opportunities to overcome the challenges they face and using our voice to help shape a better future for them.”
Allen said that while interest rates have begun to fall and inflation is stabilising, some members and customers “still face barriers to their financial wellbeing”.
She added: “We will continue to innovate to provide solutions that are distinctive and address the difficulties people face.
“I am proud of the progress we have made in 2024, powered by our brilliant people.
“All that we have achieved this year, combined with our ambitious plans, positions us well to deliver even more value for our members and customers for generations to come.”
