Mortgage providers received 118,000 applications for help with buying or refinancing a house in the third quarter of the year, a rise of 15% on the same period last year, according to research by Hypotheken Data Network.

Buyers accounted for almost two thirds of the applications, a rise of 9.4%, but this was well down on the 20% and 14% rises in new mortgage requests in the first and second quarters.

The rest of the applications were for switching or second mortgages, a rise of nearly 27%.

Most mortgage applications to buy a home were made in Zuid-Holland, followed by Noord-Holland and Noord-Brabant. In Groningen, by contrast, the number of mortgage requests fell by almost 8%.