In the final three months of 2017, members of the ASTL lent £319.4 million worth of development loans, of which £197.8 million were categorised as bridging.

These development loans exclude what is generally termed ‘light refurbishment’ such as addition or renovation of bathrooms, kitchens and conservatories as these generally do not require planning permission or extensive structural changes.

Overall, Q4 2017 was a strong period for bridging lenders with an 19.6% increase on the previous quarter and for the first-time completions exceeded £1 billion highlighting the increasing use of alternative sources of finance. Annual completions exceeded £3.5 billion.

Benson Hersch (pictured), CEO of the ASTL, said: “The housing crisis continues to be high on the government’s agenda and Sajid Javid highlighted last year that he wanted to do more to support SME building firms. Increasingly these small developers are relying on short term funding solutions, because traditional forms of finance are often not available to them.

“Such a trend demonstrates how alternative forms of finance are providing the solutions where the Government and the banking industry should be and could be bridging the gap.”