(Reuters) – British lender OSB announced Thursday a 8% rise in its underlying net loan portfolio for the nine month ended September. It also maintained its forecasts of growth for this year. This was largely due to strong housing demand following the end of the pandemic.

Lenders like OSB are seeing an increase in loan volumes as remote workers and tax breaks have helped to boost housing demand. This was in addition to the record low interest rates that were experienced during the COVID-19 epidemic.

OSB reported that it had a good performance in its lending and savings franchises despite mortgage lending hitting a 14 month low in September due to the expiration of the tax relief and concerns over rising inflation.

Andy Golding, chief executive officer, said that “we remain mindful of uncertainty about the outlook for UK economic outlook”, but that demand in housing market and rental market markets is strong.”

This lender, which is specialised in commercial mortgages, residential development financing, buy-to–let and commercial mortgages, reported that underlying net loan amounts were at 20.6 Billion Pounds ($27.88 Billon) at the close of nine months, as compared to 19.0 Billion pounds the previous year.

Additionally, the group stated that it will continue to achieve about 10% in underlying loan book growth for 2021.