Nationwide Building Society has forecast house prices will remain flat this year as it posted a fall in profits for the first half of 2018.
The lender reported a pre-tax profit of £281m in the three months to the end of June, down 13 per cent from £322m in the same period of 2017.
Gross mortgage lending over the quarter was £7.4bn, up slightly from £7.3bn a year earlier.
Within this total, buy-to-let lending increased from £0.8bn to £1bn but net prime residential mortgage lending decreased slightly to £2.2bn from £2.4 billion, which the building society put down to “increased mortgage redemptions in a highly competitive market, with no net growth in respect of specialist mortgages.”
Its mortgage market share shrank somewhat from 21.8 per cent to 19 per cent.
Nationwide Building Society chief executive Joe Garner says: “Our outlook is unchanged from the full year, and we expect the economy to grow at a modest pace over the next 12 months.
“We are observing consumers adapting their behaviours in response to the pressure on disposable income.
“The housing market looks set to remain relatively subdued with house prices broadly flat in 2018.
“Against this background, we also expect intense competition to persist in our core markets.”
Santander’s half-year results which were out today, also blamed increased mortgage market competition for a profit fall in its UK business.
