This is an increase of 19% after reporting £1.6bn over the same period last year.
This follows reports of lower mortgage lending figures from Lloyds and Northern Rock earlier this week, with Lloyds lending £12.9bn in H1, a drop in market share from 23% to 20%. Northern Rock’s mortgage lending also fell, this time by 25% in just six months, and the nationalised lender reported losses of £68.5m, although a return to profit is expected next year.
The Coventry reports an average Loan to Value of 53.6% on its lending this year and an average LTV of less than 50%, including house price variations.
Coventry reports profits before tax of £45m, against £43.5m in H1 2010 and grew savings balances to a record £17.7bn, up £7bn since 30 June 2007. The mutual also launched its first public covered bond issue in April this year, raising £750m on the capital markets.
David Stewart, Coventry chief executive, said: “Coventry Building Society continues to perform extremely strongly. Underlying profit before tax increased by 10% to £51.1m, during a period when the society’s net mortgage lending was equivalent to 25% of the market as a whole.”
He added: “These excellent results demonstrate Coventry’s consistent strength in what remains an uncertain environment.”The society said it is confident it will continue to attract savings in a competitive market and was upgraded on the strength of its assets by Moody’s earlier this week.
A Coventry spokesperson declined to confirm the distribution split, but said the “vast majority” of its lending went through brokers. “This is why we work so closely with intermediaries,” she added.
