In its annual results for 2017 Legal and General also revealed its lifetime mortgage business lent more than £1bn for the first time and that it will continue to focus on house building.
The club facilitated £65bn of mortgages, up from £53bn, claimed partnerships with more than 9,000 mortgage brokers and said it was involved in one-in-five of all UK mortgage transactions.
According to Bank of England data the UK mortgage market was worth £257bn in 2017, which would give L&G Mortgage Club a 25% market share.
Legal and General’s lifetime mortgage business made more than £1bn of advances in 2017 (up from £600m in 2016), claiming a 33% market share, and it expects the market to double by 2020.
The lender said its focus was to continue growing the market by widening the range of products offered and routes to market utilised with the expectation that the equity release market will surpass £6bn by 2020.
“With an estimated £1.5trn of housing equity currently owned by the over-55s in the UK, the long-term growth characteristics of this market are strong,” it said.
“Our portfolio has an average customer age of 70 and the weighted average loan-to-value is around 28%.
“In 2017, we secured a five-year partnership agreement with The Co-operative Bank to offer lifetime mortgages to its interest-only customers approaching retirement,” it added.
Housebuilding focus
The lender is also involved in the housebuilding market through its part ownership of Cala Homes.
According to reports from Sky News it is seeking to increase its shareholding to take control of the company.
In its annual results, L&G said Cala Homes delivered a record financial performance last year with revenue of £776m and is ahead of the same period last year.
“In our housing portfolio, we will continue the expansion of our build-to-sell and build-to-rent offerings,” it said.
“We have ambitious plans to develop businesses in the later living and affordable housing sectors, and we intend to grow the urban regeneration portfolio through further investment into existing projects, and the regeneration of cities where we do not yet have a presence,” it added.
Protection growth
L&G’s retail protection gross premiums grew to £1.23bn, up from £1.18bn, claiming a 25% market share.
The business said it expected to continue growing premiums and generating good profits in 2018, supported by distribution and product enhancements.
Overall L&G made an after-tax profit of £1.9bn, up from £1.265bn in 2016.
Group chief executive Nigel Wilson said: “Legal & General’s strategic focus, alignment to global growth drivers and excellent execution, allowed us to deliver a record £2.1bn operating profit in 2017.”
