Big banks gain share of mortgage market

The UK's big banks have made gains in the mortgage industry, increasing their share in the unstable market.

Barclays announced that its mortgage volumes for the first quarter of the year were higher than a year ago.

It said that it had a share of more than 20% of UK mortgage lending, compared to 8% in the first quarter last year.

"We have clearly been beneficiaries in terms of current market conditions," finance director Chris Lucas said.

While he expressed confidence that growth would carry on, he said he could not expect it to continue at the impressive rate of the early part of the year.

"The first quarter was unique in terms of the conditions," he said.

Barclays, like other big lenders, has found favour as firms offering cut-rate mortgages struggle to survive in the current financial climate and thousands of mortgage products are withdrawn.

But Mr Lucas added: "We don't chase market share for the sake of market share."