Skipton ups lending by a quarter

In 2013 the society lent £2.4bn, as Skipton successfully grew its mortgage book by £1.3bn in 2014, which is now valued at £12.7bn.

Paul Darwin, Skipton’s head of intermediary sales, said: “2014 was an outstanding year of lending for Skipton.

"But our commitment to supporting the UK housing market extends much further than numbers.

"We have taken our mutual proposition to a growing number of mortgage members and intermediary partners and remain committed to delivering what is important to them - offering a wide variety of affordable competitive products to suit all mortgage needs."

Skipton helped 19,512 homeowners purchase or remortgage their properties, including 2,946 first-time buyers.

Its net residential lending accounted for 5.3% of the UK mortgage market's growth.

It also recorded £323m worth of new buy-to-let lending in 2014.

Darwin added: “Looking forward, the next twelve months will be interesting. The housing market remains in a state of unrest with the strength of the economic recovery, mortgage market and housing market all moderating towards the end of 2014.

"Early indications in 2015 are that there has been a slight improvement in many of these areas since the year end, and mortgage competition remains strong.

"We will watch with interest on the outcome of the general election, bank base rate predictions and the ongoing turbulence in the Eurozone.

"But we look forward to continuing on the strides we have made in the mortgage arena throughout the rest of the year.”