The figures from the Co-operative Bank also show a 13% increase in the proportion of customers remortgaging, indicating borrowers are looking to take advantage of lower mortgage rates.
Neville Richardson, chief executive of The Co-operative Financial Services, said the rise in mortgage applications had occurred mainly over the last two months, reflecting its range of best-buy mortgages in this period.
He said: “Throughout the credit crisis our strong financial position and responsible lending approach has attracted more and more customers to us and is an approach we will continue to build on.”
Richardson added: “The large increase in mortgage applications reflects some gentle improvement in consumer confidence with regards to the housing market, which recent CML figures would seem to support.
“Additionally, we are seeing similar growth figures in core banking and insurance areas.”
