Mortgage News
Skipton BS mortgage lending rockets 64%; Connells profits jump
Skipton Building Society’s gross mortgage lending leapt 64% in the first six months of the year, the mutual has reported in its half year results.
The lender completed £1.1bn in lending during the first six months of the year, 64% up on the £663m posted in the first half of 2012.
Skipton said it achieved a 4.4% growth in its mortgage book during this period with net lending topping £450m. It said £102m of this new lending had been made to first-time buyers.
The mutual said that since its launch last August the Bank of England’s Funding for Lending scheme had increased Skipton’s net mortgage lending by £656m. It reported the society had drawn down £410m in funds since its launch.
Skipton’s estate agency division, Connells, increased profits by 24% in the first half of the year to £23m. The group said this was down to a 16.8% increase in house price sales.
It said that despite capacity issues in the valuation market Connells’ survey and valuation division had increased its results by 9% in H1 and has undertaken a recruitment drive to increase its surveying team by 30%.
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“Coupled with our own efforts, schemes like Funding for Lending and Help to Buy have made a significant impact on buyers’ ability to purchase a home as indicated by the group’s fantastic results so far this year,” said Adrian Scott, mortgage services director at Connells Group.
Elsewhere, the Principality Building Society has also announced its half-year results. It said that it had increased lending in Wales by 38% in the first six months of the year and has drawn down from the Funding for Lending Scheme for the first time, taking £105m in May.