The results represent the Society’s highest six month lending period for five years and a marked increase on the £10.2bn over the same period in 2012/13.
During the half year, Nationwide provided mortgages to more than 30,400 first-time buyers, a 52% increase on the same period last year, accounting for more than one in five first-time buyer mortgages in the UK.
This means the Society helped 1,169 customers a week to access new prime mortgages and accounted for 22% of all first time buyer lending in the UK over the period.
The Society offers a range of deals at up to 95% of the value of the property. This includes lending through its Save to Buy scheme, which was extended to home movers as well as first-time buyers in 2013.
The Society is an active participant in government schemes, including the Help to Buy equity loan schemes in England and Scotland, New Buy and MI New Homes in Scotland, aimed at boosting the supply of new properties and access to home finance.
Nationwide is also working towards its ‘Your Home’ goal of helping 750,000 people move into a home of their own by 2017.
This forms part of the Society’s wider citizenship role in delivering a greater social impact, and ensures Nationwide is focused on housing for those who most need it, including first time buyers and people in affordable and social housing.
Chris Rhodes, executive director at Nationwide, said: “As you might expect from the UK’s largest building society, Nationwide has continued to focus on first-time buyers and on promoting the link between saving and access to low deposit mortgage deals.
“We have continued to reserve our best deals for our existing customers while giving additional help to first time buyers and those with small deposits, including through our Save to Buy scheme.
“As a result, we have increased our gross mortgages lending by over a third and our net mortgage lending by 75% compared to the same period last year. “
