Building societies have approved 189,000 mortgages in the first half of 2015, data from the BSA has revealed.
These approvals accounted for 29 per cent of the total market. Societies have also loaned £26.4bn of gross new mortgages, increasing their market share from 20 per cent to 27 per cent.
Paul Broadhead, head of mortgage policy at the BSA, said: ‘This data again demonstrates the key contribution that building societies are making to the UK mortgage market.
“Mortgage approvals are up, mortgage balances remain steady and building societies accounted for more than half of the net lending in the first half of the year, against a natural market share of 20 per cent.”
The data also showed that, in the period from January 2012 to June 2015, net lending by building societies was £51.7bn, an 88 per cent share of the total £58.9bn.
According to the figures, this means other lenders accounted for £7.2bn within this period.
Mr Broadhead added: “While our support to first-time buyers and aspiring home owners remains strong, the building society sector continues to service the whole spectrum of borrowers, including people requiring a mortgage that lasts into retirement.”
Adviser view
Ray Boulger, mortgage adviser for London-based John Charcol, said: “There are two ways of looking at the BSA data. In general, banks have slicker computer systems and therefore the process can be more straightforward.
“On the other hand, the beauty of building societies is that most have manual underwriting to highlight the pros and cons of each mortgage – which leads to a faster decision.
“The smaller building societies are useful for helping individual cases. For example, many major banks have a cut-off age of 75, whereas some building societies lend to people through their 80s.”
