New peer-to-peer mortgage trading platform, LendInvest, has reported the completion of its first ‘block trade’ of loans.

The block of five bridging loans were purchased by a hedge fund, that is looking to gain exposure to the UK mortgage market.

LendInvest, which was formally launched last month, has now completed a number of crowdfunded mortgage loan transactions.

The total amount now funded through the LendInvest platform is almost £5 million.

David Serafini, managing director, said: “This is a very exciting development for the LendInvest platform. It proves that our proposition is a very attractive one for sophisticated and High Net Worth investors, family offices and hedge funds.

“Sophisticated investors appreciate the vast underwriting experience and track record that the LendInvest team bring to the market, through its association with Montello. It becomes a very attractive investment for investors that are trying to gain exposure to this asset class, but don’t want to set up the infrastructure and buy-in the team to be a mortgage lender.”

Co-founder Christian Faes added: “LendInvest is seeing a lot of interest from investors and their advisers and IFAs, that are looking to gain superior risk adjusted returns. There is a common theme that ‘the banks aren’t lending’, and this allows a way for investors to gain exposure to an investment that is providing a very decent return, plays off this theme and is secured against property.”