Yorkshire Building Society has announced the highest mortgage and savings balances in its history despite what it described as a “challenging year for the economy”.
The UK’s third largest building society has released its 2021 results which showed profit before tax almost doubling to £320.0m, while core operating profit rose to £297.3m.
The Yorkshire provided just over 75,000 mortgages during the year and said it had supported a record number of first-time buyers. It also paid above the market average to its savers, delivering an extra £107m in interest to them.
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It said it was “focused on being an outstanding provider of savings and mortgages” but was aware that rising inflation following the easing of pandemic restrictions was affecting the economy.
Interim chief executive Stephen White said: “I am delighted to report that in a challenging year for the economy when many members and customers have faced very difficult circumstances we have been able to help more people with their key financial needs than ever before.
“Our mutual model has helped us to deliver record savings and mortgage balances allowing us to both increase our savings rates and help a record number of first-time buyers.
“The strength of our mortgage book has helped us to support borrowers facing serious financial difficulty and, at a time of rising house prices, release some of our provisions.
“At the same time, the ongoing work to improve the efficiency of the society and reduce cost alongside good commercial judgments and disciplines has meant that core operating profit increased to £297.3m, allowing us in turn to increase our capital and reserves and reinvest for the long term.”
The society said that mortgage approvals fell in October following the stamp duty holiday but grew again in November and December to exceed pre-pandemic averages. It has brought back 95% mortgages and is supporting shared ownership lending.
It also highlighted its actions to increase its minimum rate on savings accounts to 0.5% before the December base rate rise, and to 0.6% last month, to help savers at a time of historically low interest rates.
