Skipton Building Society hails deposit-free mortgage product as profits rise

Skipton Building Society

Membership numbers and pre-tax profits have grown at Skipton Building Society amid what its boss has called a transformative year.

The North Yorkshire-based mutual reported an 8.1% rise in members to 1.2 million as operating profits climbed from £319.1m to £329.8m. In 2023 results published to the London Stock Exchange, the lender said mortgage advances had grown 6.3% to £6.7bn with around 40% more first time buyers.

Skipton pointed to the launch of its ‘Track Record’, a deposit-free mortgage which does not need a guarantor and is said to help “those trapped in expensive rents to realise their homeownership aspirations”. The society said that since its introduction last May, it had already received £62.4m of applications and made £29.7m completions.

But waning buyer confidence during the year impacted the group’s Connells estate agency business, which saw revenue fall to £950.9m and pre-tax profits slump from £67.5m to £13.8m. Meanwhile, Skipton’s Channel Islands-based offshore business saw pre-tax profits rise from £39.9m to £47.3m during the year.

Stuart Haire, Skipton’s group chief executive, said: “This year we have been braver, bolder and more innovative for our members and customers, with our well-regarded Track Record mortgage for rental prisoners (which is already helping hundreds of people), and our income booster product (joint borrower, sole proprietor) where friends and family can pool their finances to get a mortgage and a home. For savings members, we have launched highly competitive savings offers, including our member exclusive 7.5% regular saver in June.

“We have also offered free advice and free pension health checks for members, and a free EPC Plus survey to help improve the energy efficiency of our members’ homes. This has been achieved while maintaining our award-winning customer service, consistently ranking toward the top of cross industry customer service league tables; all thanks to the skills, care and empathy with which our customer facing colleagues engage our members.”

He added: “We will develop new capability to support more people into homeownership and improve the customer journey for buying and selling homes, whilst continuing to grow our lettings business. We will also continue to invest more to ensure our members receive above-market interest rates for their savings and have access to free advice to help them plan their financial futures.”

Last week Leeds Building Society said that its gross mortgage lending had fallen from £5bn to £4.4bn in what it described as “challenging” market conditions.