Many major banks and building societies have released their results for the first half of the year, with many reporting an increase in mortgage lending.

Royal Bank of Scotland led the way, increasing its mortgage lending by 43% between the first two quarters of the year.

It has lent £9.1bn in the six months to 30 June, with the level of applications also rising. The bank said improved systems and processing had allowed it to complete more loans.

Virgin Money also saw a dramatic increase in its mortgage lending. Its gross mortgage lending increased by 44% to £3.6bn during the first half of the year.

The bank said this represented a 3.8% market share of gross lending.

Jayne-Anne Gadhia, Virgin Money’s chief executive officer, said: “We continued to increase our share of the mortgage market while protecting the quality of our book.

“Gross mortgage lending increased by 44% to £3.6bn in the first half of the year, representing a 3.8% market share of gross lending and a 20.5% share of net lending to the end of May.”

Elsewhere, Skipton Building Society saw gross mortgage lending rise by 31% in the first of half of the year to £1.9bn. This compares to £1.5bn for the same period in 2014.

Around 9% of this total was buy-to-let lending, the mutual said.

However, not all providers were able to increase lending. Santander’s gross mortgage lending during the first half of the year was 7% lower than in 2014.

The bank’s lending totalled £11.9bn, down from £12.8bn a year ago. First-time buyers accounted for £2.3bn of this total, with Help to Buy loans worth £395m completed.