Strong lending was attributed to a sharp increase in the purchase of buy-to-let and second homes ahead of the increase in stamp duty on 1 April.
The number of mortgage approvals was 20% higher than a year ago, with remortgaging up 25% and house purchase up 14%.
Adrian Anderson, director of mortgage broker Anderson Harris, commented:
"As expected, March was a bumper month for mortgages. Investors and second homeowners alike rushed to beat the hike in stamp duty at the start of April but expect April and May’s lending figures to be more subdued as transactions that would normally have happened then were brought forward.
"However, stamp duty hikes aside, borrowers on the whole exude confidence, household finances are relatively strong, interest rates seem unlikely to rise anytime soon and lenders have plenty of money to lend. Remortgaging is also on the up as borrowers realise that while base rate is unlikely to rise soon, mortgage rates are just so cheap that they are too good to miss."
Mark Harris, chief executive of mortgage broker SPF Private Clients, added:
"There are potential hiccups on the horizon which may foster some uncertainty, such as the EU referendum, but for many people life will go on and it will be business as usual. The challenger banks are keen to lend with lenders such as HSBC and Tesco Bank using brokers for the first time, while more established lenders also wish to bring in more business, which will be reflected in cheap rates and some tweaking of criteria. On the buy-to-let side, lenders will need to adapt to lending to limited companies as it looks as though an increasing number of investors will go down this route."