Buoyant housing market boosts buy-to-let lender
The buoyant housing market continues to be the main driver of growth for specialist buy-to-let lender Charter Court Financial Services Group.
The Wolverhampton-based group said in a third quarter trading update that its loan book was up by more than a quarter since the start of the year.
Continued strong demand is expected to keep the group on track to meet its full year forecasts – which it announced at the time of its IPO.
Its loan book is up 46.6% year-on-year to £4.8bn (September 2016: £3.3bn) and up 26.8% since December 31, 2016.
New loans originations are said to be stable year-on-year at £0.7bn in Q3 2017, and up 8.3% year-on-year to £2bn in the nine months to September 30 (9M 2016: £1.8bn). It remains on target to see these grow beyond 2016 levels.
Its strong asset quality has been maintained with the cost of risk in line with management expectations.
Customer deposits are up 34.6% year-on-year to £3.9bn (9M 2016: £2.9bn).
In Q3, the group closed a £0.3bn mortgage securitisation at a spread of 0.5% above three-month LIBOR, which represents the lowest funding rate the group has achieved in the wholesale markets.
Ian Lonergan, CEO of Charter Court, said: “I am delighted (in) Charter Court’s maiden trading update since our successful IPO in September.
“The strong momentum that we generated in the first half of 2017 was maintained into the third quarter as mortgage originations in the nine months to September 30 grew 8.3% year-on-year to £2bn and our loan book increased 46.6% year-on-year to £4.8bn. We managed to do this while maintaining our disciplined approach to underwriting.
“Looking to the year end, we continue to see solid demand for our buy-to-let and specialist residential mortgages, with a strong pipeline leading into the final quarter.”
Charter Court, founded in 2008 by its senior management team, specialises in the buy-to-let, residential, bridging and second charge mortgage lending market. It operates through three brands: Precise Mortgages, Exact Mortgage Experts and Charter Savings Bank.
