Record mortgage applications at Skipton Building Society

Skipton Building Society is celebrating record mortgage applications and higher returns for its savers during the first half of 2022.

The Skipton Group generated pre-tax profits for the period of £160m (six months ended 30 June 2021: £159.2m), with its Mortgages and Savings division generating pre-tax profits of £128.3m (2021: £86.9m) – an increase of £41.4m compared with the first half of 2021.

May 2022 was the society’s highest ever month for mortgage applications, totalling £1.1bn. The Group’s mortgage portfolio grew 3.1% in the six-month period to reach £24bn. The society enabled over 6,200 first-time buyers to get their first home with a Skipton mortgage.

Ian Cornelius, interim group chief executive, said: “I’m acutely conscious our strong performance comes at a time when household finances are under significant strain.

“The current economic environment for our members and colleagues is understandably causing concern.

“Our role at Skipton is to help people navigate these challenging times, and it’s very pleasing to see our competitive offering and first-rate service have enabled us in recent months to help more people than ever before.

“Our priority will always be the long-term sustainability of our business, not short-term profit maximisation. So it is a relatively straightforward decision that we take to reinvest profits into the business for the benefit of everyone – our customers, our colleagues and our communities.

“We seek to invest purposefully, from strengthening our IT, digital and data platforms, through to reimagining how we attract and retain talent, to ensure we are fit for the future.”

During the first half of the year, the society welcomed more customers, with its membership rising by 20,655 to over 1,103,600.

Connells, the Group’s estate agency division, delivered underlying pre-tax profits of £29m (six months ended 30 June 2021: £50m)

Skipton Group notes the higher profits in 2021 benefited from exceptional housing market demand, fuelled by stamp duty reliefs and people’s changing housing needs following the pandemic.

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