Second Mortgage Uk
HBOS tops 10bn new lending with mortgage growth
HBOS expanded aggressively in the mortgage market in the first six months of this year, stealing business from rivals and taking its share of new lending to 21pc.
The UK's biggest mortgage provider said net new lending rose by 49pc to £10.3bn. Gross lending jumped to £35.2bn from £27.6bn but HBOS was able to grab market share as fewer people redeemed mortgages. The bank's share of redemptions fell from 25pc in the whole of 2005 to 23pc. Andy Hornby, who took over as chief executive yesterday from Sir James Crosby, had signalled his disappointment about HBOS's performance in mortgages last year. HBOS's share of net new lending fell to just 11pc in the second half of 2005 and 14pc for the full year, well below its historic market share of 21pc. "We have bounced back as we promised we would do in mortgages.
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Comment: Ten Steps To Defeat Your Debts
There's been a lot of doom and gloom about the UK's growing debt problem in the financial pages in the last week or so. First, the UK's five biggest banks announced their half-yearly results. Although their combined profits climbed 21% to reach £19.3 billion, bad debts soared by 29% to reach £5.8 billion. That's a lot of poor lending decisions!
Second, figures from the Department of Trade & Industry showed that over 26,000 people became insolvent or bankrupt in the second quarter of this year, up two-thirds (66%) on the same period in 2005 (learn more in Britain's Going Bust!). Third, mortgage repossessions hit 8,140 in the first half of 2006, which is the highest figure for five years, although moderate by historical standards.
For the record, this government has presided over the biggest increase in personal debt in UK history, with the total rising from under £500 billion in April 1997 to £1,228 billion in June 2006.