Mortgage and insurance network, Stonebridge, has announced that it achieved a 19% increase in mortgage completions during 2022.

Across the year, the network’s lending volumes increased in 10 out of 12 months compared to levels in 2021, with total lending hitting a record £12.6bn.

During 2022, Stonebridge’s mortgage application numbers were up by 9% on 2021, with 48% of applications for purchases, down from 57% in 2021, and 15% of applications being buy-to-let – the same as the year previously.

Stonebridge also revealed that 2022 was another good year for other core parts of its business – protection and general insurance (GI). In the protection sector, application value in commission terms was up on 2021. For GI, the growth was 15% up on the previous year.

Chief executive at Stonebridge, Rob Clifford, commented: “[Last year] was undoubtedly a rollercoaster of a year, and the housing and mortgage markets were particularly impacted by the mini-Budget and its subsequent fallout towards the end of an otherwise record-breaking year for us.

“That said, we were able to deliver continued growth across our three core areas of business – mortgages, protection, and GI – in 2022, and this is down to the excellent work of our AR firms and their advisers, who came into their own particularly post-mini-Budget when there was a considerable amount of uncertainty and some degree of panic amongst borrowers.

“Looking ahead, 2023 is also likely to be a slightly more challenging year with some headwinds to overcome, but there is also a range of opportunities to take advantage of, particularly in both the remortgage and product transfer space, and specifically in terms of ensuring clients have the protection cover they need in what remains a difficult economy.”

Stonebridge announced the results at its recent conference in Birmingham.

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