Its mortgage accounts increased to 824,000 (31st December 2008: 816,000); and average mortgage balances grew by 13%, reflecting positive net lending. Mortgage balances were £84.4 billion at the end of the period (31st December 2008: £82.3 billion), a market share of 7% (2008: 7%). Gross advances reduced to £6.0 billion (2008: £12.7 billion) reflecting a continued conservative approach to lending, with redemptions of £3.8 billion (2008: £5.6 billion). Net new mortgage lending was £2.2 billion (2008: £7.1 billion), in a market of £1.1 billion (2008: £26.3 billion). The average loan to value ratio of the mortgage book (including buy-to-let) on a current valuation basis was 44% (2008: 40%). The average loan to value ratio of new mortgage lending was 46% (2008: 47%). The assets margin increased to 1.43% (2008: 1.09%) reflecting increased returns from mortgages and consumer loans.
In total, Barclays announced pretax profits of £2.98 billion for the first half of the year; this was up 8% on the £2.75 billion it made in the first six months of 2008.
