Lloyds Banking Group lifted gross new mortgage lending 14% to £5.6bn in the first six months of the year from a year ago, citing “healthy demand” for home loans.
The lender, which owns Halifax, said “mortgages were driven by strong demand in the first quarter”, which saw homebuyers rush to beat stamp duty threshold changes at the end of March.
Home loan balances rose 2% to £317.9bn in the first half of the year, adding that the “impact of strong lending volumes at the end of the first quarter are now being reflected in average lending,” in a trading statement.
During the period, it also launched a digital home loans process for customers.
It said: “We have continued to accelerate the shift to mobile-first as a means of improving our customer proposition, with our new digital remortgage journey driving a circa 4 percentage point increase in more valuable direct-to-bank application share to circa 25% of the market.”
The group posted a pre-tax profit up 4% to £2.5bn, with growth coming from its corporate and institutional banking units, as well as mortgages.
It added: “The fundamentals of the UK economy are robust and we welcome the ambition of the recently launched industrial strategy and financial services reforms by the UK government.”
Lloyds Banking Group chief executive Charlie Nunn said: “Our strategic progress and sustained strength in our financial performance allows us to reaffirm our 2025 guidance and gives us confidence in our 2026 commitments.”
