Peoples Bank has seen a surge in residential lending this year, CEO Ben Bochnowski said.

"If you look at the first six months of this year versus the first six months of last year, our residential lending is way up," Bochnowski said. "We're seen that improve with a lot of new home sales."

The Munster-based bank more than quadrupled its profit to $2.2 million in the second quarter, up from $455,000 in the first quarter.

"Our commercial lending picked up quite a bit. That's another positive," he said. "Credit quality has been pretty stable. Throughout the industry, it's been stable. Deposits have gone up. Things are looking good."

Projects like The Banc condo tower in downtown Hammond, which Peoples Bank helped finance, show momentum in Northwest Indiana, Bochnowski said.

"We're just ex

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