Leeds, which is one of the UK’s 20 largest mortgage lenders, has surprised mortgage experts who said it was unusual for banks to be overtly public about such changes.

It is Britain’s fifth largest building society, with £19.7 billion worth of loans on its balance sheet.

Richard Fearon, Leeds’s chief executive, said: “We don’t believe support for second homes is compatible with our purpose to put home ownership within reach of more people. Second homes reduce the number of properties available for people to live in, at a time when there’s a consensus housing supply is inadequate to meet demand.”

The building society’s results for the first half of the year showed that it helped 9,000 first-time buyers on the housing ladder and that gross lending reached £2.5 billion.

Concerns over the UK’s 495,000 second homes mean that English councils could be given the power to double council tax bills on second homes used or let out for fewer than 70 days a year under legislation currently before Parliament.