What our half-year results mean for members
Published: 31 July 2026
Our half-year results for 2026 show how we’re continuing to support members through savings, mortgages and investment in better services.
As ever, we’re continuing to focus on doing what matters for members: helping them save, supporting people into homes and investing in the services and communities our members rely on.
Our year so far
In the first six months of the year, we’ve:
- Helped 13,000 people onto or up the housing ladder, almost half of whom were first time buyers
- Welcomed 33,000 new savings members
- Generated an additional £88.5 million in interest for our members by paying 0.83% above the rest of the market average savings rate1
- Reached a milestone of raising over £500,000 for our charity partner, Barnardo’s, and increased our fundraising target to £750,000 by the end of 2027
Focusing on returns for members
Our savers are the lifeblood of our business, so it was great to welcome 33,000 new savings members in the first six months of the year.
We continue to offer fair value for them, paying an average savings rate 0.83% above the rest of the market average, generating £88.5 million in extra interest1, helping their savings work hard in a tough economic climate.
Helping people into homes
On mortgages, we helped 13,000 people onto and up the housing ladder during the first half of 2026, almost half of whom were first time buyers. Plus, we developed innovative new products focused on some of the affordability challenges facing borrowers.
Our new Start Mortgage range is designed to support first time buyers who can afford repayments but may be held back by the challenge of saving a large deposit. And we also expanded our Income Plus range to support people who need more space as their lives change, with up to 6x loan to income available in some circumstances.
Support for existing borrowers
We also launched £200 cashback to existing members who choose to stay with Leeds Building Society at the end of their current mortgage deal.
Being there for communities
Our partnership with Barnardo’s continues to help young people across the UK with experience of the care system, and we’ve now raised over £500,000 for them, smashing our initial fundraising target of £350,000, and have increased our target to £750,000 by the end of 2027. The Leeds Building Society Foundation has also supported charities in line with our aims as a business, with £171,000 awarded in large and small grants so far in 2026 helping people into safe and secure homes.
Investing in better service
We’re continuing to invest in our services, including replacing our core mortgage and savings technology, which is now in the build phase, and preparing to launch our first app later this year. The investment is intended to improve the experience for members and intermediary partners, while freeing colleagues to focus on better outcomes.
A word from Annette
“I’m proud of all that we have achieved as a Society in the first half of 2026, as we delivered a performance in line with expectations.
"Supporting people into homes is central to everything we do, and I’m delighted that we continued to lend responsibly and launch innovative products to meet members’ needs, helping more people have a place to call home.
"We’ll continue to invest for the future, in line with our plan to enhance member value and set our Society up for continued long-term success.”
Annette Barnes, Chief Executive Officer
Read the full press release on our half-year results.
1Source: CACI’s CSDB, Stock, January 2026 to May 2026, latest data available. CACI is an independent company that provides financial benchmarking data of the retail cash savings market.
