Coventry BS grows mortgage balances by 10%

In its half year results, Coventry reported a market share of net lending of more than 10% for the five months to May 2017 and 10% growth in mortgage balances Since June 2016.

Statutory profit before tax increased by 2% to £112.4 million.

Mark Parsons, Coventry Building Society Chief Executive, commented: "The mortgage market in the first half of 2017 has been markedly different from 12 months ago, when we saw significant volumes of property purchases in the buy to let sector ahead of changes to stamp duty. It has, though, continued to see a resurgence in remortgages as more homeowners and landlords seek to take advantage of current borrowing rates. Our strong product and service offering has allowed us to benefit from this shift, and as a result over the last year we have grown our mortgage balances by 10%. In the first five months of 2017 our mortgage balances grew over four times faster than the market growth rate, further increasing our share of the UK market.

"At all times we remain a low-risk lender. In fact, we have seen the level of mortgages in arrears and credit losses continue to fall, testament to conservative underwriting policies.

"Despite our growth, complaints from members about savings and mortgages fell further in the first half of 2017 and are among the lowest of any provider, based on the latest published Financial Conduct Authority statistics. Furthermore, complaints referred to the Financial Ombudsman Service are overturned in only 6% of cases, compared to an industry average of 42%."