Over the last year ending 4 April 2013, the Nationwide Group has increased its gross mortgage lending by 17% to £21.5 billion, accounting for 15.1% of all UK residential mortgage lending. This represents Nationwide’s highest ever market share.

Over the same period, the Nationwide Group’s net lending was £6.5 billion, more than double that achieved in the previous financial year and equivalent to more than 100% of total net lending in the UK.

During the year Nationwide provided mortgages to over 42,000 first time buyers, a 75% increase on last year. This means that one in every three of Nationwide’s new prime mortgages during the year was to a first time buyer and that the Society accounted for almost one in five of all first time buyer mortgages in the UK.

Nationwide has also continued to provide mortgage deals for up to 95% of the value of the property through its Save to Buy scheme. Previously only available to first-time buyers, from January 2013 Nationwide extended the scheme to home movers. Customers who save at least £50 a month in a Save to Buy account for six months or more can get access to a mortgage with a 5% deposit and have the opportunity to earn up to £1,000 cashback. Nearly 30,000 Save to Buy accounts have been opened since launch in April 2011, with the average account balance being £3,270.

Nationwide has also maintained its Base Mortgage Rate (BMR) pledge. This, it claims, ensures that a significant proportion of its existing mortgage members have access to a rate capped at 2% above Bank of England base rate. The Society estimates that the member benefit of its BMR pledge has been in the region of £800 million, equating to an average of over £1,100 annual net benefit for each individual mortgage account compared to the average back book rate charged by other lenders, which exceeded 4%.

Chris Rhodes, Nationwide’s executive director, said: “The last year has seen us take a record share of the residential mortgage market and our net lending has more than equalled the net lending of the whole of the UK mortgage market. We have not simply focused on new customers but, as you would expect from a member owned organisation, we have reserved the very best deals for our existing customers. We have also given additional help to first time buyers through our Save to Buy scheme and we have now extended that scheme to home movers.

“As a member of Nationwide you don’t have to buy a new home, move or remortgage to benefit. Our BMR borrowers have been sitting on a rate of 2.5% and we believe that this has delivered £800 million of benefits to these members over the last year.”