New mortgage approvals, the future pipeline of completions, were also up 31% on February 2011 and 29% on January 2012, indicating an increased level of consumer activity with mutuals, the BSA said.
On the other side of the balance sheet mutuals experienced a retail savings outflow of £87 million in the month compared to an inflow of £359 million in February 2011. This is an improvement on January where the outflow was £1.1 billion.
‘Gross lending and new mortgage approvals by mutuals continued to rise year on year in February, despite growth across the market as a whole remaining relatively flat,’ said BSA director general Adrian Coles.
‘The strong financial results released by a number of mutual lenders in recent months show that the sector is well positioned to offer market leading products to its customers and are open for business,’ he explained.
But he warned that household finances remain under pressure. ‘Rising unemployment, declining real incomes and a lower-for-longer base rate environment combine to make it difficult and less attractive for savers to increase their deposits in savings accounts. It is therefore unsurprising that savings balances fell slightly in February,’ he added.
