BRITAINS fifth-biggest building society delivered a very strong set of half-year results as it unveiled plans to increase mortgage lending.
Leeds Building Society lifted new loans by 61% to £642m during the six months to the end of June from £400m for the same period last year while boosting savings balances by £127bn to a record level of £7.15bn.
Pre-tax profit rose by 49% to £26.9m from £18m last time.
The society attracted 21,000 new members to take total membership to more than 685,000.
Capital and reserves increased to a record £553m from £515m a year ago.
Chief executive Ian Ward said: Leeds Building Society has achieved another excellent set of financial results for the first half of the year and provided more capacity and choice to the UK mortgage market.
Almost a quarter of new loans, over £151m of completions, has enabled thousands of first-time-buyers to purchase their first home and this represents an 85% increase when compared to the same period last year.
"The average loan-to-value on new lending was only 52% as we continue to adopt a prudent approach to underwriting.
We intend to increase new lending further this year, to around £1.3bn, which will support many more first-time buyers onto the housing ladder and enable other borrowers to move their mortgage to us.
Mr Ward said the mutuals strong profitability was backed by a £38m rise in capital and reserves to a record £553m, adding: These capital and reserves are significantly ahead of regulatory requirements.
