Leeds Building Society’s gross new mortgage lending came to £5bn in 2025, slightly down on £5.7bn in the prior year.
According to Leeds Building Society’s financial report, the firm assisted around 34,600 people onto the property ladder, which compares to 37,200 people in 2024.
Approximately 49% were first-time buyers, making up 17,100 of the new mortgage customers. This compares to 17,600 in the prior year.
Leeds Building Society noted that its Income Plus range, which was launched in December 2024, has assisted over 900 first-time buyers into homeownership.
The deal works by offering a loan to income (LTI) of 5.5 times income and offers first-time buyers with a minimum household income of £30,000 an average of £66,000 more on 95% loan-to-value (LTV) lending.
Leeds Building Society’s arrears levels came to 0.57%, which is down from 0.61% in 2024.
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The firm’s profit before tax hit £198.6m in 2025, up from £187.5m, which it attributed to “robust growth in mortgage lending and a strong increase in savings balances, alongside continued investment to deliver long-term benefits for members”.
On the technology side, the company said it had added both savings and mortgage journeys to its new technology platform.
It said development would continue into 2026, and it was working on a mobile app and strengthening the integration between online and in-branch services.
Speaking to this publication, Annette Barnes (pictured), interim CEO of Leeds Building Society, said she was “really proud of our results”, both regarding financial results but also its technology transformation programme.
She also highlighted the success of its Income Plus product, which had helped 900 first-time buyers that otherwise may not have got onto the ladder, adding that it was “really important to us” to support this area of the market.
Barnes continued: “We’re really focused on our purpose doesn’t change. So, you know, our purpose is putting homeownership within reach of more people, generation after generation. It’s that generation after generation bit that’s really important to us and it’s about sustainability.
“We’ve got three big strategic drivers, and those are our focuses for the next few years. These are customer experience, making sure that our customer experience is absolutely the best it can be, along with productivity, so we need to constantly look at: how do we use our members’ money wisely? And that’s really a focus for us.
“Then it’s market participation, so what areas would be most beneficial for our members? What would really help and support them? Those are absolutely our focus areas for this year, but also our focus areas going forward as well within that broader purpose,” she explained.
Barnes said it was “constantly looking at other options” in terms of market areas, especially for first-time buyers.
“As you would imagine, it’s a competitive market, and we’re constantly looking at options to really help and support our members on both sides – on the mortgage side and also on the savings side as well,” she noted.
On technology side, Barnes said it had “proven a lot of the capability” in 2025 and that the focus for this year is to “build out all of the functionality now for both mortgages and our savings products as well”.
“We’re really focused on that from a broader business perspective and also from a digital point of view as well. We are very focused on digital transformation. We’re in the process of building a new mobile app for members, and that’s really exciting for us,” she said.
On the new mobile app, Barnes said this will initially focus on savings, but that mortgages will follow.
Barnes said brokers were “incredibly important for our business” and it was constantly looking for feedback on improvements it could make to its service.
