The mutual says its housing loan book lifted 7% to £655m “due to high demand earlier in the year, particularly for remortgages, as interest rates rose, and homeowners and buyers looked to lock in fixed-rate mortgages”.
However, during the year mortgage completions slipped 1.8% to £165m in the 12 months to 30 November, on a year ago.
It processed 1,251 applications resulting in 670 completions for the year with an average loan size of £244,000.
The mutual expanded its mortgage offer by adding expat holiday let borrowing, self-build large loans, and increased maximum loan sizes to £1m up to 80% loan to value.
It also re-entered the shared ownership market for fixed and discount products.
Savings balances lifted by £34m, or 5.1%, to £681m.
Overall, the business saw annual profit lift 103% to £5.9m on a year ago.
Suffolk Building Society chairman Peter Elcock says: “2022 saw strong mortgage performance in another year of global uncertainty and political volatility, during which we carefully managed our offering to prioritise positive and consistent service levels and excellent customer outcomes.”
He adds: “2022 was, of course, a difficult year for many, financially, and our borrowers on variable rate mortgages, or those coming to the end of their fixed term, faced rising interest rates after a period of historically low rates.
“As far as possible we have tried to support our borrowing members, while balancing their needs with those of our investing members”.
