Net mortgage lending in the first six months of 2010 was £846m, equivalent to 25% of all net mortgage lending in the UK said the Council of Mortgage Lenders.
The UK’s third largest building society also reported an underlying profit before tax of £51.1m in their half-year report for H1 2011, an increase of 10% from H1 2010.
David Stewart, chief executive at Coventry, said: “Throughout the financial crisis, we have maintained a consistent appetite for new mortgage lending, with mortgage assets increasing by another 4.9% during the first half year, a rate of growth broadly in line with the long-term performance established over the past 10 years.
“As a result of the reduction in the overall capacity of the market the society’s share of all mortgage lending has increased significantly in the last four years. Mortgage balances grew by £846m, equivalent to 25.5% of all net lending undertaken in the UK.
“Gross advances totalled £1,913 million, representing 3% of all mortgage advances in the UK and around 19% of all lending undertaken by building societies and mutual banks. The average loan to value ratio on advances made to date in 2011 is 53.6% and the average LTV ratio for our book as a whole, after accounting for changes in house prices, is below 50%.
“We retain a high quality mortgage book, with mortgage arrears significantly below those for the industry as a whole. At 30 June 2011, only 0.79% of mortgage balances were 2.5% or more in arrears. Impairment charges totalled just £4m from a loan book of £18.4 bn.
“These excellent results demonstrate Coventry’s consistent strength in what remains an uncertain environment.
“The society is committed to reducing risk in its own investments. In recent months the emerging sovereign debt crisis in the eurozone has highlighted concerns of contagion across UK financial services.
“The society took steps as long ago as 2008 to reduce its exposure to certain economies and as a result just £8.5 million of deposits are placed with Irish institutions. We have no exposure to Portuguese, Italian, Greek or Spanish banks, the other countries most often associated with these issues.
