At Newbury Building Society we’re a little quirky with our business year. Rather than following the calendar year, we run from 1st November to 31st October.

So the dust has already settled on our year, and what a successful one it was. We, like the rest of our mutual sector, continued to grow throughout year mostly thanks to our lending.

The Building Societies Association (BSA) reported that gross lending by mutuals was up 29% in October compared to the same month last year. Mutuals also took a 24% share of the market, compared to our usual 19% as in 2011.

So where did it all go right for the smaller lender?

The year started off well in the mortgage market, with BSA reports showing that mutual lending was up for the first half of the year, even though the market as a whole remained fairly flat.

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Net lending by building societies and other mutuals was £2.7bn, compared to £0.7bn for the same period in 2011.

With the economy still in recession, lending from the bigger lenders was weak. This became more apparent in the market as we saw products withdrawn and criteria tightened.

This created a boom time for smaller mutual building societies like ourselves. If we are doing lots of lending we also need to be taking in lots of savings, as that is how our model works, which meant we had to shift our focus a little during quarter two by putting more emphasis on savings generation and a bit less on mortgages.

June saw savings balances on the rise again, across the whole sector, which continued throughout July and August, which in turn has resulted in lending continuing to grow throughout the rest of the year.

So what does 2013 have in store for mortgage lending?

With the Funding for Lending Scheme getting underway, I’m hopeful that across the market lending will continue to grow for the coming year. But I fear that the competition will be fiercer than ever.

Although perhaps not… The Bank of England recently reported that the four big lenders – RBS, Lloyds, Barclays and HSBC – have a £60bn black hole between them. Reports are already showing that these lenders have drawn on their FLS funds, yet their net lending remains in decline.

So whether they will they get involved in the “mortgage war” that could be set by the cheap funding remains to be seen. This could, potentially leave smaller lenders, like ourselves, more opportunities to be able to lend the funds back to those who need it… and that will suit us very well.