Building societies have taken a growing share of the mortgage market by adopting a more personal approach to underwriting.
They lent £12.7 billion of gross new mortgages in the first three months of the year, according to new data released by the Building Societies Association (BSA).
This accounted for 29% of all new lending across the market, against a 20% share of existing mortgage balances.
Societies approved more than 91,000 mortgages in the first quarter.
Mortgage lending by building societies, net of repayments, was £3.5 billion in Q1.
This compares to the negative net lending of -£0.5 billion across all other lenders.
Net lending by all lenders totalled £3.0 billion.
Paul Broadhead, head of mortgage policy at the BSA said: "Lending by building societies has been strong.
"Without the contribution of this section of the market the stock of mortgage loans across the UK would have shrunk in the first three months of the year.
"Societies hold a 20% share of mortgage balances, but have had a much greater share of the flow of new lending for some time.
"In the first quarter they delivered 29% of all new mortgages. This is partly because of competitive products and partly due to the more personal approach they take to underwriting.
"The trend looks set to continue in Q2, as around a third of mortgage approvals in Q1 were from building societies."
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