The mutual’s new residential lending in the first half of the year hit £769m, according to its interim results, 20% up on the £642m posted last year.
The society said that it had attracted an additional £189m in savings during the first half of the year, which had allowed it to increase its lending substantially.
It said that its current levels of lending were double what would be expected based on its market share of total mortgage balances.
A quarter of the mutual’s lending in H1 was to first time buyers, with over 2,500 customers using Leeds Building Society to purchase their first home. The average loan-to-value ratio was 55% during this period, marginally up on last year.
The number of residential mortgages in arrears fell to 2.76%, compared to 3.12% at the same point last year.
Total membership of the mutual rose by 32,800 to 696,000. Pre-tax profits increased slightly year-on-year to £27.1m.
Chief executive Peter Hill commented: “Leeds Building Society continues to grow market share in its core markets of mortgages and savings and has delivered another strong set of results for the first half of 2012.
“We continue to focus on personal service and meeting the needs of a wide range of members. Our ability to attract funding gives us the capacity to offer mortgages to more and more people, including first-time-buyers.
“Leeds Building Society is in an excellent position to grow further in the second half of 2012 and beyond, and continue to do what we do best; provide good value for money products backed up by excellent service.
“Our very strong lending was possible because of our ability to attract retail deposits, which grew by £189m (£127m, 30 June 2011). Savers were attracted by the security and value we provide, and this half year performance is significantly above our market share.
“Furthermore, this success means that all of the Society’s residential mortgage balances are funded entirely by retail deposits.
“The average loan-to-value (LTV) on new lending was only 55%. We will continue to be very active in the mortgage market and focus on providing finance that will help borrowers achieve their home-ownership aspirations across a range of product areas.”
