Barclays new home loan bookings jumped to £15.4bn in the first six months of the year from £9.2bn a year ago, “driven by increased demand as interest rates reduced”.

The end of lower stamp duty thresholds at the end of March and “increased operational capacity” also lifted home loan sales, the bank said in a first-half trading statement.

Mortgage balances at the bank came in at £166.8bn in the six months to the end of June, up 3.5% on a year ago.

The average loan-to-value ratio of new mortgage lending was 70% in the period, compared to 63% 12 months ago.

The average LTV of its mortgage portfolio was 54%, compared to 53% a year ago.

It added that the proportion of loans greater than 90% LTV lifted from 0.8% in the first half of last year to 1.6% in the first half of this year, “primarily driven by an increase in Treasury mortgage guarantee scheme applications”.

Last February, Barclays bought Tesco Bank’s retail operations for £8.3bn, consisting of credit card and unsecured personal loans as well as customer deposits.

Overall, the bank posted first-half pre-tax profit up 23% to £5.2bn, on sales up 12% to £14.9bn. It also announced a £1bn share buyback programme.

Barclays chief executive C. S. Venkatakrishnan said: “We remain on track to achieve the objectives of our three-year plan, delivering structurally higher and more stable returns for our investors.”