The Yorkshire-based lender completed £2.4bn in mortgage lending during 2013, dramatically up on the £1.5bn recorded in the previous 12 months. Net lending at the society also grew strongly from £400m to £1bn during this time.

Group pre-tax profits increased from £35.4m to £102.5m year-on-year with the mortgage and savings division accounting for £50.4m of this figure.

Of its subsidiaries, mortgage servicer Homeloan Management Limited achieved profits of £0.9m, the same as the year before, while estate agency division Connells increased profits by 41% to £50.2m, up from £35.6m in 2012.

Elsewhere, Hinckley & Rugby Building Society has reported gross mortgage lending in the year to November 2013 topped £100m for the first time since the financial crisis.

The mutual completed £103.7m of mortgage advances in the 12 month period, a rise of £16.1m. Net mortgage lending grew 38% to £113.4m.

H&R chief executive Chris White said: “It was a transformational year for us. We increased our capacity ready for increased levels of applications which duly arrived as the market became more optimistic.”