The UK’s fifth-largest mutual saw its gross lending hit £4.4bn in the year to the end of December, helping to lift operating profit before tax from £80.7m a year ago.

The firm benefitted from the surge in house buying sparked by the stamp duty tax holiday during the height of the pandemic.

Leeds Building Society chief executive Richard Fearon says: “The society broke so many records in 2021 – it was our busiest 12 months ever for mortgage applications and our biggest year for FTB lending, which accounted for almost one in three of all our new mortgages, another record.”

Total assets lifted by 9.2% to £22.5bn in the period.

Digital investment lited the mutual’s operating costs to £1.1m in the year, compared to operating gains of £3.2m 12 months ago, resulting in income ratio of 43.9% and cost to mean asset ratio of 0.58%, compared to 51.0% and 0.48%, respectively in 2020.

But the business says its efficiency ratios “are still among the best in the building society sector”.

The society adds its Mortgage Hub broker platform has now been integrated with major sourcing systems, “saving brokers time and effort, and will facilitate further enhancements and improvements to online services for brokers and direct customers”.

It lifted capital and reserves by 8.1% £1.46bn, well above the regulatory requirement.

The firm says its savings balances rose by 7.7% to £15.25bn, which equates to an annual uplift of more than £71m to saving members.

Leeds Building Society’s Fearon adds: “Our successful strategy for supporting customers less well served by the wider market saw us join the government’s new First Homes scheme and complete the mortgages for its very first purchasers, and we remained active in shared ownership.

“With FTBs in mind, we also launched a new regular saver account, ideal to start building up a deposit.”