The Society also enabled 5,570 mortgage payment deferrals to members that needed support, 99% of which have already begun repaying.

Jonathan Westhoff, chief executive of The West Brom, said: “Throughout the pandemic, we have been determined to deliver our purpose, centered on the promotion of homeownership. This determination has seen our new residential lending increase by 38% to £784m (2019/20: £569m) and we received £1.2bn in new applications (2019/20: £0.9bn).

“Whilst at the start of the pandemic we took a responsible approach by limiting the amount of high loan to value (LTV) lending, in total a third of our new mortgage lending has been to first-time buyers.

“This segment is at the heart of our purpose, and we have recently launched a range of 95% LTV products to provide more options for those looking to achieve the dream of homeownership.”