The Principality building socieity has reported a 187% increase in the number of borrowers taking out a mortgage in the first three months of this year, compared with the same period last year.

Wales’ largest building society said that February marked its biggest ever volume of mortgage applications since November 2007 – prior to the onset of the credit crunch – with lending for the month at over £143 million.

Graeme Yorston, chief operating officer at the Principality, said: “These figures are a good sign of the gently recovering confidence in the housing market. The average mortgage rate has been steadily decreasing since the middle of last year and this