Editor's note: This brief was summarised by The Property AI Newsroom from a report by Mortgage Solutions. Read the original article for full details.

Santander Reports £14.7bn Gross Mortgage Lending in H1 2026

Santander UK completed £14.7bn in gross mortgage lending over the first half of 2026, an increase from £10.6bn in the same period last year. The lender’s loan book rose from £169bn in December to £204.7bn, mainly due to its acquisition of TSB, which completed in May and added £33.9bn to its book.

The mix of Santander’s mortgage borrowers remained relatively stable compared to the end of last year. Homemovers accounted for 40% of business, down from 42% in December, while remortgagors represented 31%, up from 28%. First-time buyers made up a fifth of the book, down from 21%, and buy-to-let (BTL) business remained flat at 9%.

The average loan to value (LTV) of Santander’s mortgage book increased from 52% to 53%, and the average LTV of new business rose slightly from 65% to 66%. Fixed rate mortgages made up 91% of the bank’s mortgage borrowers, down from 92% in December, while the share of borrowers on a standard variable rate (SVR) rose from 1% to 2%.

The proportion of mortgages in arrears of 90 days or more fell from 0.65% to 0.54% of the bank’s mortgage book.

Santander reported a 31% fall in its half-year pre-tax profit from £764m to £528m, attributing this to an impairment charge in the first quarter related to historical motor finance commission payments and higher restructuring costs. TSB reported a loss before tax of £25m due to a day one credit impairment charge of £62m. Santander’s credit impairment charge increased by £173m to £278m, attributed to the TSB acquisition and a deterioration in the economic outlook. Post-tax profit fell 32% to £385m.

Net interest income rose 8% to £2.4bn, primarily due to the inclusion of TSB’s higher net interest margin. The overall net interest margin fell slightly from 2.26% to 2.25%.

Santander’s financial report noted that front-line teams are using tailored artificial intelligence (AI) solutions for customer phone calls. Following the TSB acquisition, Santander is now the UK’s third-largest bank by personal current accounts and fourth-largest mortgage lender.

These developments may be of interest to UK letting agents and inventory clerks monitoring lender activity, borrower trends, and the stability of the buy-to-let sector.