Leeds BS to increase number of 95% loans

Thursday 23rd February 2012

Leeds Building Society has announced record profits after increasing mortgage lending by 25% and attracting new savings.

The society increased pre-tax profit by 19% to £50.2m last year, and operating profit by 21% to a record £102.4m.

New residential lending rose to £1.23bn, including loans to 4,000 first-time buyers, and savings balances grew by £329m to a record £7.4bn. Membership rose by 58,000 to almost 700,000.

Chief executive Peter Hill said: “Leeds Building Society has again delivered an excellent set of financial results and provided even more capacity in the UK mortgage market, especially to first-time buyers.
 
“We intend to increase lending further in 2012, and this will include more availability of 95% loans, which we see as an important contribution to supporting home ownership, the housing market and the wider economy.”

The average LTV last year was 51% compared with 53% in 2010.