In its latest results, Barclays said that it helped over 103,000 new customers get on or move up the housing ladder during 2023, including 33,000 first-time buyers.
Barclays reported a profit before tax of £2.9bn in 2023, which is an increase from £2.6bn in 2022. This was partially attributed to the higher-interest-rate environment and the “continued investment in our transformation into a next-generation, digitised consumer bank”.
The lender added that its net interest margin (NIM) rose from 2.86 per cent in 2022 to 3.13 per cent in 2023.
The bank added that the average loan to value (LTV) of the mortgage portfolio is 54 per cent, up from 50 per cent LTV in 2022.
The average mortgage LTV of new mortgage lending is 63 per cent, down from 68 per cent in 2022.
Barclays also reported a credit impairment charge of £304m, which is up from £286m in 2022, and it said this was “consistent with low delinquencies in UK cards and high-quality mortgage lending”.
Barclays’ mortgage balances stood at £160.9bn in 2023, a fall from £162.2bn in 2022.
Barclays assists 200,000 customers with long rate-switch window
The lender said that, in late 2022, it had made changes to allow customers to rate-switch up to 180 days in advance of their rate ending, helping more than 200,000 customers in 2023 secure a new rate 180 days in advance.
This is ahead of the Mortgage Charter changes introduced in June 2023, the firm said, with its updated system running for eight months at this point.
Kensington Mortgages acquisition will ‘enhance product capabilities’
Regarding its Kensington Mortgages acquisition, which it completed last year, the firm said that the acquisition “will broaden our existing mortgage product range, and further enhance our product capabilities”.
It noted that the lender was “serving fast-growing customer groups, including the newly self-employed, contract workers, borrowers with multiple sources of income, and those with a weaker credit history”.
Nearly £850m lent on green mortgages
Barclays added in the report that, in 2023, it had lent £845m to Green Home Mortgages customers, a product launched in 2018 for properties with an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of A or B and expanded to cover buy to let (BTL) in 2022.
Since the inception in 2018, Barclays has lent over £3.5bn to Green Home Mortgages customers.
In 2022, it made 3,719 completions, and overall it has made 15,669 completions since 2018.
