The mutual, which reports its figures to 30 June as Q1, confirmed net residential lending of £3.5bn, a 67% increase on the previous year, with buy-to-let completions of £1.7bn and net lending of £0.9bn.
The mutual said it expected a contraction in the buy-to-let (BTL) lending market, which alongside its own underwriting changes is likely to lead to lower levels of buy-to-let new lending in 2016.
Full year Council of Mortgage Lending figures to December 2015 revealed Royal Bank of Scotland and Nationwide were the only top five lenders to increase mortgage lending market share last year, with Lloyds, Santander and Barclays losing ground to mid-sized providers.
Joe Garner, Nationwide’s CEO, said the building society will pass on the Bank Base Rate cut in full to existing Base Mortgage Rate, Standard Mortgage Rate and tracker mortgage customers.
“In addition we will protect members who save regularly and who are building up a deposit to buy their first home; as a result, the Flexclusive Regular Saver at 5%, the FlexOne Regular Saver at 3.5% and the Help to Buy ISA at 2% are being maintained at their current rates,” he added.
The average LTV of Nationwide’s new lending was 70%, nudging up from 69% in Q1 2015.
Nationwide lent £30.5bn in 2015, although Garner cautioned these are ‘times of uncertainty’ which the mutual acknowledged with a five-point mortgage borrower support plan following the Brexit vote.
Mark Rennison, Nationwide Building Society’s finance director, said margins have trended lower as a result of competition in the mortgage market, but reported a statutory profit of £401m and an underlying profit of £368m after its sale of its Visa Europe stake.
“Our range of mortgage products is very competitive and we reserve the best rates for our existing customers as a demonstration of the value we place on their loyalty,” said Rennison.
The mutual’s current account openings have increased by 21% to over 139,000 driven up by its Recommend a Friend proposition, giving the society a 15% market share.
