Building societies held 23% of outstanding mortgage balances in Q3

Building societies approved 111,800 new mortgage loans in Q3 2020 equating to a 28% market share, which is up 5% on Q3 2019.

Building societies held 23% of outstanding mortgage balances in Q3

Building societies held 23% of outstanding mortgage balances in Q3 2020, equating to £338bn, according to the Building Societies Association (BSA).

This figure is up 1% on the £333.9bn seen in Q3 2019.

Building societies approved 111,800 new mortgage loans in Q3 2020, equating to a 28% market share which is up 5% on Q3 2019.

Building societies lent to over 20,000 first-time buyers.

Gross lending was £14.6bn, down 9% on the £15.9bn noted in Q3 2019.

Net lending also recorded a decline, dropping by 43% to £1.2bn from £2.1bn, between Q3 2019 and 2020.

Paul Broadhead, head of mortgage policy at the BSA, said: “It has been a turbulent year for the mortgage market, with transactions collapsing due to the lockdown in March, but approvals for house purchase recovering to 10-year highs in the third quarter, as pent up demand was released and buyers rushed to take advantage of the stamp duty holiday.

“Although the housing and mortgage markets are buoyant at the moment, and the wider economy has recovered somewhat, we are far from out of the woods.

“We are also concerned about the cliff edge effect of the abrupt end of the stamp duty holiday on 31 March and have called on the government to taper its removal to lessen market impact.”