Abbey’s share of mortgage market increases to 15.9%

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by Kay Murchie

Abbey has trebled its share of the mortgage market in the first quarter of 2008, taking it to 15.9%, up from 4.9% compared with the same period last year.

The lender is now ranked third in the share of the UK mortgage market, behind Halifax and Nationwide.

Abbey, owned by Spanish bank Santander, has taken advantage of smaller lenders that have been affected by the credit squeeze.

Abbey managed to avoid the troubles of its competitors during the credit squeeze as it has benefited from the strong capital position of Santander.

The credit squeeze has resulted in lenders having a lack of funds and many have increased their fees as a consequence.

Earlier this month, Abbey was the last major lender to withdraw its 100% mortgage deal. It does, however, still offer 95% mortgage deals.

Abbey has 704 branches throughout the UK and plans to open a further 300 branches nationwide by 2012.

Santander, which is Spain’s largest bank, announced a first quarter net profit of 2.2 billion euros (£1.73 billion). This represented an increase of 22.4%, which was slightly ahead of market forecasts.