Skipton mortgages shoot up as society hits million savers mark

Mortgages delivered by Skipton Group rose almost 11 per cent over the last year to a whopping £30bn.

The group, which included Skipton Building Society and Connells Group, the UK’s largest estate agent, saw group profit before tax jump five per cent in its half-year results to £157m.

Some 41 per cent of new lending from the group was to first time buyers, compared to just 31 per cent in June 2023.

Skipton’s lending arm also saw a surge in inflows, with the society savings balance growing 16.6 per cent over the last year to £27.6bn, as the company cracked a million savers and investors, rising to over 1.26m people.

A total of £80.1m in value was returned to members over the last six months, it said, compared to £57.5m a year ago.

Last week, the group launched the Skipton Group Home Affordability Index, which is meant to help to help potential buyers navigate the UK’s “challenging” property market.

“Our group purpose is to help people have a home, to save for life ahead and to support long term financial well-being,” Skipton Group CEO Stuart Haire said in today’s results.

“Given our position as the largest owner of estate agencies in the UK, responsible for about one in ten houses bought and sold every year, alongside our financial capabilities, we have great potential to drive transformative change in the UK housing market and financial services industry.”

Earlier this year, Haire slammed rival high street lenders for failing to pass on higher interest rates to savers.

“We’ve followed the interest rates up on our savings range whereas… the market practice has been for people to maybe leave the savings rates down, which then supports the margins and the profits of the institutions who could make more profit,” Haire told City A.M. “Shame on them.”