According to its latest annual results, gross mortgage lending for 2021 is also ahead of 2019 figures, which came to £295m, and slightly below its 2018 figure of £348m.
The mutual explained the increase in lending in 2021 was driven by housing and lending markets returning to more “normal levels” after disruption to both markets due to the pandemic in 2020.
It added that in June, it completed 254 mortgage transactions coming to over £51m of lending, which it said was a record since its founding in 1950.
Total mortgage assets grew by 4.3 per cent to £1.4bn in 20201, which compares to around £1.3bn in 2020.
Profit before tax at the mutual came to £11.9m, which compares to £4.8m in 2020. This was attributed to improved underlying performance and a low interest rate environment leading to a number of one-off financial movements on its interest rate swap portfolio.
On the arrears side, the mutual said out of 8,942 mortgage accounts, eight had arrears of 12 months or more, with an outstanding balance of £1.6m and arrears of £100,000.
This compares to 11 accounts in 2020 with arrears of 12 months or more, with an outstanding balance of £1.7m and arrears of £200,000. The mutual said arrears had fallen slightly and were “significantly below” those of the wider mortgage market.
The majority of its mortgage book has an loan to value ratio of less that 50 per cent, with around 51 per of its mortgage book at this tier.
This was followed by around 36 per cent of its book being between 51 and 70 per cent LTV, and around 13 per cent at the 71 to 90 per cent LTV tier.
Its workforce also grew by around 60, bringing its total workforce to 215.
The Cambridge Building Society’s chief executive officer Peter Burrows (pictured) said he was “delighted” with the results which were a “testament to the hard work and dedication of a committed team of experts”.
He added: “We appreciate the loyalty and trust of our customers, who continue to see The Cambridge as a great mortgage provider and a trusted place to save, as well as a committed supporter of our local communities.
“2021 continued to be a challenging year for most, but we are proud of the resilience we have shown throughout the year, with steady growth, through responsible lending and headline-making savings products that reward our customers’ loyalty to us.”
He concluded that supporting customers “remains at the heart of what we do” and its purpose was to “find ways to help people have a home, by supporting people who couldn’t buy without our help and by working with our communities to help people have appropriate shelter and housing”.
