Net residential lending at the society increased to £668m in the six months to 30 June up from £446m in 2014.
The society’s total residential mortgage balances now stand at £10.4bn, an increase of 14% on H1 2014, a record level for the lender.
The lender’s service updates show an application-to-offer turnaround of 14 days which it said continues to beat its internal target.
Leeds increased its pre-tax profits by 42% to £55m up from £38.6m in H1 2014.
Chief executive Peter Hill said Leeds anticipates a modest increase in the size of the mortgage market for 2015 and expects competition for new business to intensify as established lenders and new entrants look to achieve market share.
He added: “Despite this, and the uncertainty in the eurozone, we remain very well placed to deal with any economic shocks, deliver our investment programme, further develop our service proposition and continue to provide value to our members.”
A major project for the society during the first half of the year was an IT upgrade. Hill said the developments to its core administration system would make future IT enhancements easier to implement. “Of course we will prioritise this IT support in tackling challenges in the intermediary channel,” said Hill.
Hill said that service levels had suffered a little in the first half with the main pressure point being phone contact. “We’ve invested in this side of the business to improve call times for intermediaries,” he added.
