West Brom Building Society completed £646m in new mortgage lending over the six months to 30 September, representing a 41% annual uptick.
This was also the highest amount lent by West Brom Building Society, which helped 3,215 first-time buyers into their first home over the period. This was also 41% higher than the year before.
First-time buyers made up 66% of the mutual’s new mortgage borrowers, higher than the 62% share last year. Meanwhile, the value of lending to new homeowners rose by 39%.
West Brom said its record level of lending was partially due to first-time buyers and existing borrowers choosing to remain with the mutual, as its residential mortgage book came to £354m.
The share of mortgage customers in arrears made up 0.97% of its book, slightly higher than the industry average of 0.93%.
This was also up on an arrears rate of 0.89% at the end of March.
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West Brom said the figure had increased because of higher arrears in its closed buy-to-let (BTL) lending.
Arrears across its owner-occupier mortgages were lower at 0.6%, compared to 0.57% at the end of March. This was lower than the industry average of 0.97% for homeowner arrears.
The mutual said it delivered £23.7m of benefits to its customers, such as the £1.9m saved by mortgage borrowers who paid its differentiated standard variable rate (SVR) instead of the market average.
West Brom closed the period with a profit before tax of £17.2m, 26% higher than the year before.
Jonathan Westhoff (pictured), chief executive at West Brom Building Society, said: “This year, we’ve celebrated 175 years of helping people achieve their ambition of buying a home and saving to help secure their future. We’re especially proud to have helped over 3,000 first-time buyers secure their own homes, a 41% increase compared with the same period last year.
“We’ve extended our offering for those with smaller deposits through our new-build mortgage range, alongside our continued support for alternative routes to buying a home, such as shared ownership. These options, as well as our differentiated standard variable rate approach, have helped us achieve our highest ever homeowner lending in the first six months of a financial year.”
Westhoff added: “While the UK economy continues to show modest growth amid global uncertainty, with easing inflation lowering interest rates and mortgage costs, the market remains challenging. With a new government in place and ongoing economic pressures impacting household finances, it is encouraging the housing market has demonstrated resilience with house prices holding steady.
“Despite these challenges our strong financial performance, reflected in a 26% increase in pre-tax profits supports our capital strength and, therefore, capability to continue to support the vital segments in which we have grown strongly.”
