New figures from the Building Societies Association show that building society mortgage balances grew by £11.7 billion in the six months to September 2024, compared to £4.6 billion at other lenders, accounting for 72% of the mortgage market growth during the period.
This follows 2023 where building societies were responsible for all the growth in the mortgage market, as overall mortgage balances at other lenders reduced in the year.
Activity in the mortgage and housing markets has picked up over the past six months supported by strong wage growth, falling inflation and expectations that mortgage rates will continue to fall.
Overall, building societies saw £35.9 billion of gross mortgage lending in the six month period, securing a 29% market share. This was spread over 205,209 mortgage approvals, giving building societies a 32% market share.
The data also shows that building societies provided over 63,000 first-time buyer mortgages over Q2 and Q3, accounting for almost half (44%) of all their residential owner-occupier lending.
In addition, building societies performed better than banks on all measures of customer service. 93% of building society customers agreed their provider offered good customer service, compared to 87% of bank customers, and 86% of customers said their building society offered competitive rates, compared to 73% of bank customers.
