Yorkshire Building Society grows savings and mortgage balances in time of volatility
Yorkshire Building Society said it delivered a solid performance in the first half of 2026, as it continued to grow savings and mortgage balances during a period of economic volatility.
Susan Allen, chief executive of Yorkshire Building Society, said the mutual was rewarding savers with competitive returns and investing in digital improvements to make it easier for members to manage their money.
Despite facing “economic uncertainty and heightened competition”, the society said it increased mortgage balances in the half year to £52.3bn, from £51.9bn at the end of 2025. Total savings increased to £54.5bn from £54.0bn at the end of last year.
The statutory profit before tax fell year on year to £181.9m from £187.9m while the core operating profit also fell like-for-like to £175.0m from £215.4m.
A total of 288,000 savings accounts were opened over the half year, which was the same figure as recorded in the first half of 2025. Altogether 19,300 new residential mortgages were provided which was an increase on the 18,000 recorded in the comparative period the year before.
Of these, 5,600 went to first- time buyers, compared with 4,500 reported in the first half of the previous year. Savers were paid on average 3.34%, which is 0.54 percentage points (pp) above the market average, the mutual said.
Ms Allen said: “We have delivered a solid first-half performance, growing both savings and mortgage balances while continuing to invest in the products and services our members value. Against a backdrop of economic volatility and heightened competition, our results demonstrate the strength of our mutual model and the trust millions of customers place in us."
She told The Yorkshire Post: “I’m really pleased that in a challenging market we’ve been able to do what we do best, which is to help savers build resilience and deliver great value for them
"The core of our purpose is members coming together to make more good homes possible. The external market is very difficult and there’s been quite a lot of volatility and that volatility makes things tricky for our customers; whether it’s uncertainty about whether to buy a home or worrying about the need to build a savings nest..that’s where we step in really well. We’ve been working really hard to make sure that we’re there for our members.”
In a statement to accompany the results, Ms Allen added: “We remain committed to supporting and removing barriers to home ownership, particularly for first-time buyers. For example, we reacted quickly to regulatory changes to allow first-time buyers to borrow up to 5.5 times their income. We also removed the minimum income requirement, and this has meant in the first half of the year we’ve made nearly 1,800 mortgage offers to customers who would not have met the previous criteria.”
“But being a member of Yorkshire Building Society means being part of something bigger. As well as making good homes possible for more people, our members are supporting communities across the UK. We have reached our target of raising £1 million to support Building Skills for the Future – The Felix Project and FareShare’s employability programme which has so far supported more than 2,300 people. Through our Small Change Big Difference scheme, which lets members donate the pence of interest from their accounts, the Yorkshire Building Society Charitable Foundation has granted over £200,000 to community organisations nominated by members and colleagues in the first few months of 2026 alone.”