Total buy-to-let mortgage balance lending grew from £14.9bn to £16.5bn, while net mortgage lending totalled £7.1bn. The bank also said it helped 18,000 first-time buyers during the first six months of 2022.
Santander, the UK’s third largest lender, said tax profits rose 32 per cent to £993m compared to £751m H1 2021.
The size of its average new business mortgage loans rose from £234,000 to £237,000, and the average loan size among existing business during the first six months increased from £174,000 to £177,000.
Its new business mortgages had an average loan to value (LTV) of 68 per cent, up from 64 per cent, and on existing business this increased from 51 to 52 per cent LTV.
The proportion of mortgage borrowers on a fixed rate rose from 84 per cent to 87 per cent during the period and those on Santander’s standard variable rate fell from four to three per cent.
Home movers as a percentage of mortgage business fell from 43 per cent to 42 per cent with remortgaging static at 29 per cent and first-time buyers at 20 per cent.
The average loan to income ratio fell from 3.35 per cent times average annual earnings at the end of December 202 to 3.34 at the end of June.
Mike Regnier (pictured), chief executive of Santander, said the lender was “doing all it could” to support customers and staff. He said the rising cost of living was impacting customers, although it had not seen any significant deterioration of credit quality to date.
He added: “We know many of them are worried about the rising costs of living and doing business, so we have increased the support available through our digital channels on a range of key issues including energy costs, spending and budget planning.
“The increase in the Bank of England’s base rate has enabled us to increase the interest rate on our 1 2 3 current account which continues to provide up to three per cent cashback on household bills. We have also been able to increase rates right across our savings range, which are amongst the most competitive on the high street.
“Our ongoing transformation programme has realised £572m savings which has helped to mitigate the impact of rising inflation and allowed us to continue improving our customer experience whilst delivering on our strategic priorities of being a responsible and sustainable business.”
