A report by the Association of Bridging Professionals (AOBP) found that £31,703,000 was lent by its members during October, beating the record of £27.5m set the previous month.

The AOBP said 91.4% of business was done outside of the regulated sphere, despite around half of its membership being FSA authorised.

Private lenders made up 63% of the market on volume with Dragonfly Property Finance the biggest lender brand, taking nearly 5% of the market, according to the AOBP.

After private funders, Precise Mortgages took the biggest number of individual cases followed by Lancashire Mortgage Corporation.

Bridging specialist Enterprise Finance has also revealed it has completed more loans by value in November than any previous month.

The firm, which is not an AOBP member, said it completed over £20m of loans during the month.

Danny Waters, CEO of Enterprise Finance, said that both sets of results showed the market for short-term loans would continue to grow in the coming year.

“With the high street lenders still on red alert, and the property market yielding considerable opportunities, the bridging sector continues to go from strength to strength. The fact that this data wasn’t skewed by one jumbo loan gives it even more weight.

“We’re by no means alone in experiencing the exceptional demand for bridging finance: as the AOBP data reveals, there is momentum across the board, which is great to see. As an industry, we can move into 2013 in a very positive mindset.”