Newcastle BS gross mortgage lending tops £1bn

Newcastle Building Society reported record gross mortgage lending of £1.1 billion for 2022 and record net core residential lending of £586 million.

Profit for the year before taxation increased to £31.7 million from £29.1 million.

Newcastle said it paid an average interest rate of 1.20% versus the rest of market average rate of 0.66% “equating to around £21m more interest paid to our savers than the market average.”

Newcastle Building Society CEO Andrew Haigh wrote: “In 2022, we welcomed more than 10,000 new members to the society through our savings product range.

Successive decisions by the Bank of England during 2022 saw the base rate rise to levels not seen for 14 years.

“In response, we increased our variable rate savings book multiple times, continuing to provide members with good and consistent value …

“Our subsidiary Newcastle Strategic Solutions Limited manages savings accounts on behalf of some of the UK’s leading savings providers.

“A profitable business in its own right, the Solutions’ business also brings scale and the capacity to invest in technology to the group, while operating under the same culture and purpose principles.

Driven by numerous Bank of England base rate changes and rapidly rising retail savings rates there was a very large surge of activity in the savings market in 2022.

“Our Solutions’ clients reflected what was occurring in the broader market and our activity levels also reached all-time highs, placing a significant demand on the operational teams in the second half of the year.”

Last month, the boards of Newcastle Building Society and Manchester Building Society said they agreed heads of terms to merge “by way of a transfer of Manchester’s engagements to Newcastle.”

Newcastle Building Society has 345,000 members and 31 branches. It employs 1,400 people and its total assets were £5.3 billion at December 31, making it the 8th largest building society in the UK.

Manchester Building Society has 11,000 members and no branches. It employs 44 people and its total assets were £200 million at December 31, making it the 41st largest Building Society in the UK.