PERTH-BASED housing lenders Home Building Society and Homeloans have reported vastly different results for the half-year to December.
Home achieved a big increase in net profit to $3.5 million and announced a lift in its dividend to 13.5 cents per share.
The company said underlying profit was up 23 per cent after adjusting for changes in its accounting treatment of property investment contingencies and broker commissions.
Managing director Craig Coleman said Home achieved significant increases in lending and deposit volumes and stabilised its costs.
Lending volumes were 60 per cent higher than in the previous year, though the benefit from this growth was muted by a squeezing of interest margins.
In contrast, mortgage originator Homeloans has reported a weaker result, adversely affected by restructuring costs and lower loan volumes.
Net profit dropped by 1 per cent to $418,300 even though the company achieved a small increase in revenue to $18.7 million.
It said restructuring of its sales and distribution strategies and its workforce resulted in significant redundancy costs ($555,000), consultancy fees and administration expenses.
In a statement, the company said the board continues its focus on reducing costs during this period of change.