YBS Commercial lent around £453m of commercial mortgage loans in 2024, with the majority going into the private rental sector.
The latest results for Yorkshire Building Society’s commercial lending arm showed that £377m of this lending went into “servicing the private rental sector”, while £76m went to commercial real estate.
The latter includes “commercial investment, semi-commercial and owner-occupied product offerings”.
The company’s balance sheet also hit £2.2bn.
YBS Commercial said it had achieved the “impressive growth” due to a “combination of business improvements” in response to broker feedback.
This included growing its business development and regional lending teams to “better support broker engagement and increase the lender’s reach in the market”.
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“These changes focused on ensuring brokers have a named point of contact throughout the customer’s application journey, delivering a personal service every step of the way,” it said.
YBS Commercial also entered new markets, including products to support SMEs that occupy their property for business purposes.
The firm has also introduced short-form valuations to estimate market value and a new process to carry out valuations before receipt of underwriting approval.
It also introduced a process to “apply proportionality to the amount of information requested according to the level of risk posed by a deal, meaning that lower-risk cases were able to progress quicker”.
These changes saved customers time and money, with case turnaround times from offer to completion lowering by an average of 13.5% in 2024.
Angela Norman (pictured), head of lending at YBS Commercial, said: “We’re really proud of what we achieved in 2024 and have made great strides in a number of different areas – from strengthening our teams on the ground to branching out into new markets and helping more borrowers. Assisting those who occupy their property for business purposes demonstrates our commitment to purposeful lending and supporting local communities.
“The process-driven improvements we’ve made so far are key to our success, and are a clear focus for 2025 as we set our sights on digital efficiencies, delivering for brokers and customers, and optimising the customer journey even further.”
She added: “Hitting over £2bn on the balance sheet is testament to the success of the adjustments we’ve made, and speaks to the stability we offer as a lender – as part of Yorkshire Building Society – as well as to our commitment to the commercial market.
“We have exciting plans for this year – enhancing our current propositions, and, of course, listening to feedback from our trusted broker panel, to continue our focus on improving the customer journey to better support brokers and customers.”
