Halifax Bank reports boom in mortgage applications

Russell Galley, managing director at Halifax, said: “Over the past three months, we have received more mortgage applications, from both first-time buyers and homemovers, than any time since 2008, and seen evidence of a fundamental shift in demand from buyers brought about by the structural effects of increased home working and a desire for more space.

“This housing market ‘mini-boom’ has been driven by a surge in buyer demand for larger properties, as the cost of the largest types of properties in the UK has risen at more than twice the rate than for the smallest homes.”

Halifax has not split out its figures from parent company Lloyds Banking Group. However, the group said its mortgage book increased by £3bn, its highest level since 2008.

Mr Galley said the latest Halifax House Price Index showed a strong performance in the housing market since lockdown restrictions began to ease in May. He said the stamp duty holiday has been another incentive for sellers and buyers to close deals quickly before the deadline early next year.

Speaking about the lockdown, Mr Galley said Halifax has made over a quarter of a million calls to customers to check they are coping. Many customers have taken out mortgage holidays amid job uncertainty and the furlough of staff.

Mr Galley said: “I continue to be amazed by the commitment and dedication of our colleagues who have been working to keep our branches and contact centres open so we can be there when our customers need us most.

“We have adapted to new ways of working from kitchen tables and homes across the country and we’ve made more than 250,000 wellbeing calls to customers this year to check in on how they are doing and see how we can support them with their everyday banking.”

Halifax recently launched an energy saving tool to help customers save money and cut global warming.

Mr Galley said: “We all know that in these challenging times customers are looking for ways to save money while we’ve also seen people become more and more concerned about the environment.

“I’ve been really pleased to see lots of online traffic to our energy saving tool that we recently launched in partnership with the Energy Saving Trust, to help show how making some changes to your home can reduce carbon emissions. It’s really quick and easy to use.”

Halifax’s energy saving tool gives people a personalised action plan with estimates of their Energy Performance Certificate rating, energy costs and their home’s carbon dioxide emissions, as well as how much could be saved in the long-term.

“Since homes make up 22 per cent of the UK’s total carbon emissions, I’m chuffed to see people checking out our free tool to see what difference they can make,” said Mr Galley.

He was speaking as Lloyds Banking Group returned to profit after taking hits from the Covid-19 pandemic earlier in the year. The group made a £1bn pre-tax profit in July, August and September, on net income of £3.4bn.

Halifax Bank is part of Lloyds Banking Group, which employs around 6,000 staff in Calderdale with major corporate centres at Trinity Road, Halifax, and the Copley Data Centre at Wakefield Road, near Sowerby Bridge.

The finance giant was formed by a merger of Lloyds Bank and the former HBOS following the financial crash in 2008.