The mutual said the growth followed its core system migration and a return to the residential lending markets with the launch of new product offerings.
The lender said most of this was issued against residential property to owner occupiers and made up 87.5 per cent of its advances throughout the year. This was also higher than a share of 77.4 per cent of business in 2022.
The rest of its lending was for residential, buy to let and self-build purposes.
Additionally, 59.5 per cent of advances were completed through mortgage brokers. This was a decline from 68.5 per cent the year before.
Over the period, Hanley Economic’s mortgage balances rose by £8.36m or 2.48 per cent to £345.8m.
The mutual said as of the end of the financial period, there were no borrowers in mortgage arrears of 12 months or more, while 3.37 per cent of its book was in arrears of three or more months.
Hanley Economic said it continued to support borrowers and as of 31 August, there were four people under forbearance measures where they had stopped making payments.
The lender’s new interest margin grew from 1.67 per cent to 2.23 per cent, which it said reflected interest rate changes over the year.
It said it was looking to widen this margin “appropriately” as it expected competition in the residential lending market to “heighten despite challenging economic forces”. It also said it was experiencing “significant competition for mortgage business”.
The mutual posted a pre-tax profit of £1.29m, which was an increase on last year’s £711,000.
Committed to lending
Mark Selby, CEO at Hanley Economic Building Society, said he was pleased with the mutual’s results adding that it showed the “benefits of the new system”.
He added: “Asset growth, net lending and profit have all exceeded budget, and this has supported the society in being able to increase interest rates several times for all our savers. At times, we have offered the best interest rate product in the UK.”
“The society continues to innovate from a mortgage perspective and ensure our position within core lending arenas is maintained. As a lender, we remain committed to helping both aspiring first-time buyers to get onto the property ladder and in supporting existing homeowners with their remortgage aspirations. The society also continues to work closely with self-build brokers to support their clients with their dreams of building their own homes.”
Selby said: “The intermediary market will continue to play a key role within our mortgage lending plans and we will look to further bolster our product range in an innovative and responsible manner over the course of the next 12 months.”
