Building societies currently make up 21.5% of the gross mortgage lending market, nearly double their financial crisis level, according to new analysis from Castle Trust.

In 2009 their share of gross mortgage lending fell to only 12.9%, the lowest in over a decade, as lending was restricted. But lending has now recovered strongly and is close to the 22.6% achieved in 1999.

Building societies now dominate the mortgage best buy tables, offering 83% of the most competitive deals currently on the market.

Figures show 33 out of 40 mortgage best buy deals across fixed, variable and buy-to-let deals are provided by building societies, 83% more than the 18 out of 40 best buy deals offered by building societies in 2008.

Average rates on building society best buy mortgages are currently 3.26% compared with 6.2% in 2008 and lower than the 3.81% in October 2012, when Funding for Lending started to take effect.

Sean Oldfield, chief executive officer, Castle Trust said: “The strong recovery since 2009 means building societies’ market share is the highest since 1999. They are competing strongly against bigger banks and are proving to be innovative and responsive to the demands of the market.

“Capital from the Funding for Lending Scheme is helping to energise parts of the mortgage market, but there remains a real need for further innovation to help unblock the housing market in support of government schemes such as FirstBuy and HomeBuy.”