NatWest and RBS have passed the £100 billion mortgage lending mark to UK customers.

The banks’ overall lending has grown by around £30 billion since 2008, a rise of over 40%.

Since 2008, 338,000 customers have received a mortgage for a new home; 147,500 (43%) first-time buyers to the value of £18.3 billion and 190,500 next-time buyers (£31.3 billion). That’s over 56,000 new transactions for estate agencies and solicitors each year.

The banks have received over 6,800 Help To Buy applications and have helped almost 2330 customers to buy their home so far. Eight in 10 Help To Buy property purchases have been made outside London and South East.

NatWest and RBS released postcode lending data on 8 April. 20% or £19bn of RBS’s mortgage lending is in six of the UK’s largest cities; Central London (central postcodes), Birmingham, Glasgow, Manchester, Edinburgh and Bristol.

80% or £79bn takes place outside these cities across the country.

Lloyd Cochrane, head of mortgages at NatWest and RBS, said: “RBS and NatWest are open for business. We aim to continue with strong growth in our mortgage lending to homebuyers in 2014, helping as many customers as possible to buy their home as we play our role in the recovery and the future growth of the UK.”