Nationwide: UK mortgage lending drops 40%

Nationwide today said new mortgage lending dropped by almost half last year as the UK’s biggest building society looked to weather the credit storm.

The society lent £6.7bn (€8.4bn) on new mortgages in the year to April 4 – 40% below the previous 12 months – although underlying pre-tax profits rose 17% to £781.1m (€977m).