In its full year results for 2022, the mutual’s mortgage book grew by seven per cent to £655m which it said happened earlier than it planned. The mutual put this down to high demand for remortgages in the first part of the year due to rising interest rates.
Over the year, the mutual processed 1,251 applications which resulted in 670 completions with an average loan size of £244,000.
Suffolk Building Society put this down to its focus on niche mortgage markets as well as its relationships with intermediaries.
In 2022, the mutual expanded its expat holiday let and self-build mortgage offering and re-entered the shared ownership market.
The mutual said it had not seen any rise in borrowers falling into mortgage arrears or requesting payment arrangement requests, but it has put a Payment Shock Taskforce in place to alert borrowers when their mortgage payments rise by a significant amount.
Peter Elcock (pictured), chairman of Suffolk Building Society, said: “2022 saw strong mortgage performance in another year of global uncertainty and political volatility, during which we carefully managed our offering to prioritise positive and consistent service levels and excellent customer outcomes.
“As such, we’re delighted with the feedback from Smart Money People’s Mortgage Lender Benchmark Report H1 2022, in which intermediaries gave us a people score of 100 per cent, and regard our product performance as being above that of our peers and other lenders.
He added: “2022 was, of course, a difficult year for many, financially, and our borrowers on variable rate mortgages, or those coming to the end of their fixed term, faced rising interest rates after a period of historically low rates. As far as possible we have tried to support our borrowing members, while balancing their needs with those of our investing members.”
The mutual posted a profit before tax of £5.9m, up from £2.9m the year before.
Regarding its environmental, social, and governance (ESG) framework, Suffolk Building Society said it would commit more than £100,000 over the next three years to address provide safe homes and protect nature. It will also launch products for homeowners and self-builders to make their homes greener.
