Notwithstanding mortgage brokers writing 60% of UK mortgages in 2009 and ‘whole of market' brokers not being able to sell HSBC mortgages, the bank still managed to issue almost 10% of all new mortgages, meaning the bank lent one in four of all directly sold mortgages.
This market share is a considerable increase on HSBC's average between 2000 and 2007 of only 3% of UK mortgage sales. The performance was driven by HSBC having the financial strength to lend, with existing loans equaling less than 85p for every £1 held in saving deposits (a market leading ratio) and a customer acceptance rate of eight out of ten applications, which is higher than the industry average.
Martijn van der Heijden, head of mortgages at HSBC, commented: "Four in ten customers now choose to get their mortgage directly from their lender, and as research shows more and more lenders are now reserving their lowest rates for either existing customers or those happy to deal with them directly."
Recent research by Moneyfacts, commissioned by HSBC, showed that over the last two years mortgages offered directly to homeowners accounted for 93% of lowest rates in the market. Of the 96 mortgage deals which occupied the position of lowest rate in the market at any point over the last two years, just six of those mortgage deals were both available through brokers and had a lower interest rate than the equivalent best loan offered by direct lenders.
The CML figures showed that the top six high-street lenders, including Lloyds, Santander, Nationwide, RBS, Barclays and HSBC, had an overall market share of 92.2% of all mortgages advanced last year.
