Gross mortgage lending at Santander hit £12.8bn in the first half of 2014, an increase of £4.9bn compared with the start of 2013.
This morning (14 August) Santander UK has posted a profit of £545m for the first half of 2014, up 18 per cent on the first half of 2013, with continued growth in net interest income, strong cost discipline and good credit quality.
During the first six months of this year, Santander helped 19,300 first-time buyers (£2.6bn gross lending) and 3,100 Help to Buy customers (£450m) purchase a home.
The average loan-to-value on new mortgages was 65 per cent, with an average loan to income multiple of 3.1.
The latest set of results also revealed the impact of Santander’s 123 current account customers being offered exclusive mortgage rates. Since the beginning of the year more than 22 per cent of mortgages sold in branches have been to 123 customers.
Net interest income increased by £282m to £1.73bn in the first half of 2014, up from £1.4bn in 2013.
According to bosses, this was largely due to the lower cost of retail liabilities following the maturity of several tranches of higher cost eSaver products in the second half of 2013, the reduced cost of new Isa liabilities originated in the first half of 2014, as well as increased lending in commercial banking.
These increases were partly offset by reduced mortgage stock margins, reflecting the lower customer rates available on incentive products, as the current environment for mortgage lending led to increased activity.
According to bosses, this activity, combined with UK government schemes such as Help to Buy, led to an increase in customers moving from standard variable rate mortgages. Santander stated it has been successful in the targeted retention of SVR customers into new Santander UK mortgages.
