Bluestone Mortgages wrote over £250m loans in the financial year to June 2019, a 264% increase compared to 2018.

Net losses reduced 37% to £2.42m, and the specialist lender claims it is “on track” to report a maiden profit this year.

Headline gross margins were over 4%, and 30 day arrears remain less than 1% of the book.

Over the year, headcount in the business increased 58% to 49 and a new office opened in Sheffield to support the London operation.

Bluestone Mortgages is the residential lending subsidiary of diversified financial services business Bluestone Group, which is headquartered in Cambridge in the UK.

Its founder and group chairman, Alistair Jeffery, said: “The 2019 financial year has been an enormously important one for our mortgage business, with a very solid lift in new loan levels supported by strong growth in our sales, lending and servicing operations.

“Despite Brexit headwinds, the strong growth is continuing into FY19, with 105% year on year growth in settlement volumes in the first quarter.”

Steve Seal, Bluestone Mortgages’ managing director, said: “We’re delighted with the strong lift in volumes, driven in large part by the support of our broker network and their adoption of our uniquely flexible mortgage products, the continued development of Bluelink, our proprietary loan application platform and a relentless focus on service levels.”

New loans are being funded by a combination of warehouse lines from Bluestone’s funding banks, Macquarie and National Australia Bank, and forward flow sales to one a UK challenger bank. It recently completed its inaugural mortgage securitisation.