Northern Rock boosts mortgage lending

4 November 2009 | By Natalie Martin

Mortgage lending for the nine month period to 30 September 2009 was £2.3bn.

However the bank’s residential arrears over three months have increased to 4.11% at 30 September 2009, compared with 3.92% at June 2009.

But the bank says “quality of new lending remains high”, with the average LTV ratio of new lending at 55%.

The bank intends to further increase its gross mortgage lending in 2010 towards the previously announced £9bn and says all mortgage lending will “continue to be responsible, with affordability for customers remaining a key consideration.”

In its Q3 trading statement today the bank says to date it has successfully assisted more than 1,000 customers facing financial difficulty to stay in their homes.

The company’s stock of unsold repossessed properties has halved, from a peak of 4,201 at September 2008, to 2,193 at the end of September 2009.

In its trading statement, it says: “Outlook conditions in the mortgage and housing markets remain subdued. House price declines have moderated in recent months, but the company remains cautious as to the medium term outlook, given rising levels of unemployment and weakness in the wider economy.

“While recent trends have been encouraging, loan loss impairment is expected to remain a driver of the Company remaining loss making for the full year, as previously announced.”

The overall financial performance of the company in the second half of 2009 is expected to reflect a significant improvement on the first six months of the year.