L&G posts record completions in March

The Legal & General Mortgage Club delivered a record month in March with completions up 33% year-on-year.

Total lending of £4.7bn was the highest monthly number in the club’s 21-year history.

This followed a strong start to the year with record first quarter completions of £12.5 billion.

The buoyant intermediary market and a surge in buy–to-let transactions ahead of the stamp duty rise have strengthened the club’s position, it said.

Legal & General Mortgage Club is now involved in more than one in five of all mortgage transactions, making it the largest mortgage distributor in the UK.

Director Jeremy Duncombe said the first quarter saw perfect growth conditions with strong demand, good lender supply, new lenders coming to market and the buy-to-let rush.

“The market has carried on where it left off in 2015, and intermediaries continue to react brilliantly to meet the demands of customers."

Duncombe expecting the market to remain strong for the rest of the year, but warned of potential headwinds.

“Further changes to buy-to-let as the Prudential Regulatory Authority consults on tighter lending rules could undermine confidence in the market, whilst uncertainty caused by the EU referendum, fears over global stability and the relatively fragile nature of the economic recovery mean that brokers shouldn’t be complacent.

“Brokers need to ensure that they have a holistic offering, including remortgage, customer retention, second charges, and later life lending.

“That will deliver a robust business model that is able to adapt as the market evolves.”