House buying has fuelled a record breaking half year for Leeds Building Society in which gross lending reached £2.5bn and pre-tax profits rocketed.
And the mutual has announced it will withdraw from lending on second homes, saying it wants to direct its efforts towards first-time buyers. Chief executive Robin Fearon said the mutual had built on 2021's "exceptional" performance to deliver further growth in the first six months of this year. Pre-tax profits increased from £70.3m to £146.5m during the period as the society's membership grew to 815,000.
Savings also performed well as total balances grew by £1bn to £16.4bn - buoyed by competitive rates. However, Mr Fearon acknowledged that demand had led to long call waiting times for some customers; a problem he said had now been remedied.
