First-time buyers lift Nationwide

Nationwide has grabbed a record share of the mortgage market after seeing a big rise in the number of first-time buyers joining the property ladder.

The mutual, which earlier this month said the Dunfermline name would disappear from Scotland’s high streets under a branch closure programme, grew its gross mortgage lending by 17 per cent to £21.5 billion in the year to 4 April, accounting for 15.1 per cent of all UK residential mortgage lending.

More than 42,000 first-time buyers took out home loans with the firm, a 75 per cent rise on last year, while 123,000 customers switched their main banking relationship to the society during the year. That took its share of the current account market to 5.7 per cent, up from 5.1 per cent in 2012, and chief executive Graeme Beale said the society wanted to grow that figure to “at least 10 per cent”.

Underlying profits jumped by 56 per cent to £475 million.