We've posted another record year

We've announced a second record-breaking year of results, with pre-tax profits of £17.0m for 2022, up from £11.9m in 2021. We also increased our capital reserves by 13% to £113.9m in the year.

Profit grew partly due to favourable market conditions but was further enhanced by a strategy to broaden our mortgage offerings, which resulted in mortgage book growth of 3% to £1,439m.

There were 2,149 new borrowers, and £311m of new lending. There was particularly strong focus in the East of England.

We've also reported strong liquidity assets of £361m, up from £303m the previous year. Both liquidity and capital reserves remain well above the thresholds required by financial regulators, thereby strengthening the organisation’s resilience to changing economic conditions.

We bucked the trend of branch closures by opening our first new store in 16 years, in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, as well as continuing to expand its local workforce.

CEO, Peter Burrows, said: “The challenges of 2022 were many and varied, but I am delighted with all that we achieved as a team – for our customers, our team members, and the wider community.

“With interest rates and inflation both rising steeply over 2022, we remain committed to balancing the needs of our borrowers and our savers, whilst also investing in an organisation that supports the Cambridge workforce.  

“Our purpose has always been to help people have a home, by supporting those who couldn’t buy without our help and by working with our communities to help people have appropriate shelter and housing.

“I believe that our continued commitment to our loyal members, and our focus on excellent customer service, has enabled us to continue to thrive in challenging times.”

In late summer we also returned more than £20,000 to two of its ‘Rent to Home’ tenants, which they used as a deposit to enable them to buy their own first homes, as part of its unique rent-return scheme. The tenants had each rented a property from us for three years, and then received back up to 70% of rent paid to help them buy a home. Three new tenants have since moved into the properties following an audited ballot in October.