Nationwide mortgage lending up 17% to £21.5bn

The Swindon-based lender's annual results out today gave it a 15.1% market share behind Lloyds Banking Group and relegating Barclays, another ambitious lender into third place. The lender said much of its £21.5bn of lending was spurred on with a 75% increase in first-time buyer borrowers, with one in five of its loans going to first-time buyers last year. In strong results, the mutual also announced net mortgage lending up 140% at £6.5bn, a 58% increase in current account openings with 365,000 new accounts and a rise in its Loyalty Saver account balances to £8bn. Buy-to-let subsidi...