The buoyant housing market helped to push asset growth in the building society sector to over 14%, according to KPMG's annual survey of building societies' financial performance which was published today (1 September 2000).
There was an 8% overall rise in property transactions in England & Wales and 12% increase in the average value of gross advances for house purchase. Whilst total UK gross advances increased by 28% between 1998 and 1999, total net advances jumped from £25 billion to £37 billion, an increase of 48%. This sharp increase reflects, in part, the entry of a number of very aggressive competitors into the residential mortgage market during the latter part of 1998 and early 1999, most notably Egg.com and Standard Bank.
