£5bn annual lending achieved at building society
Leeds Building Society has published its 2022 annual results today, in which it achieved record gross mortgage lending figures of £5bn (2021: £4.4bn) and its highest ever net lending figure of £2bn (2021: £1.5bn).
It reports a record growth in savings, with its highest ever annual net savings inflow of £2.1bn (2021: £1bn). Total savings deposits have now passed £17.5bn (2021: £15.25bn).
The society is also celebrating attracting a record total of 839,000 members (581,000 savings members, 252,000 mortgage members and 6,000 savings and mortgage members).
Richard Fearon, chief executive officer, said: “Our continued support for the housing market enabled us to surpass all previous lending records.
“We really delivered on helping to put home ownership within reach of more people with total mortgage lending of £5bn.
“We continued to offer strong support for customers less well served by the wider market despite the extremely volatile conditions we were operating in.
“Approximately one in three of all our mortgages went to first time buyers – helped by our decision to withdraw from lending on second homes to bolster our support for those yet to get on the property ladder.
“We are again backing our values with actions by extending our suspension of all mortgage arrears fees until at least the beginning of 2024.”
The building society says despite economic turbulence it has put in a strong financial performance, with total assets of £25.5bn (2021: £22.5bn) the highest in the society’s history.
A record pre-tax profit of £220.5m (2021: £163.7m) has been achieved, with a cost income ratio of 37.4% (2021: 43.9%) one of the lowest in the financial sector.
Fearon said the society would continue to find ways to help put homeownership within reach of more people.
But he warned: “The past couple of years have been challenging for everyone and we face into what could be prolonged economic headwinds.
“It is now the hardest time to afford a home since our founding year in 1875, a sad reflection of decades of inaction to tackle the UK’s housing crisis.”
