The claim is made in a larger report on the bridging market published by Montello covering the size of the market, regulation, funding sources and recent trends in the UK bridging finance market.
Christian Faes, director of Montello, said: “There is a lot of debate about the size and composition of the UK bridging finance market.
“It is a very opaque market as there is no single industry group that represents the whole of the short-term lending industry and there is no regulatory organisation that collects data. Hopefully this report goes some way to explaining the market.”
Ian Thomas, director of Montello, added: “In the report we have also looked at the different ways in which bridging finance companies are funding their loan books, the trend towards becoming Financial Services Authority regulated and some of the other trends such as some lenders moving beyond purely a short term lending product range.
“In reality the bridging finance market has contracted in much the same way as the mainstream mortgage market. However this leaves substantial room for growth in the market moving forward.”
Earlier this month West One, another bridging lender, estimated the bridging market stood at £750m in 2010 and claimed it would hit £1bn by 2013.
The Association of Short Term Lenders collates member data but does not publish official statistics on the size of the market overall.
