Roma Finance, the Manchester-based bridging lender, has announced its most successful half year to 30 June 2017.

Four of the six months were a record of consecutive value and volume of loans written, with lending more than doubled compared to the first half (H1) of 2016.

The bridging finance and development lender issued nearly 1,000 Agreement in Principles valued at over £200 million with conversions to funded transactions in this year’s H1, making it the highest ever level following the debut of its new Fast Track process.

Scott Marshall, Managing Director at Roma, said: “I’m delighted with the performance of the company so far in 2017. We have worked hard on our new Fast Track process which has seen us improve the time to pay out and build upon our excellent service levels, highlighted by a recent industry award for service excellence.”

“Our underwriting team has been strengthened to cater for the increased demand and we remain pragmatic and timely with our lending decisions, which is well received by our loyal introducer base.”

During a time of change for the buy-to-let market, large gains have been recorded in commercial to residential transformations, with borrowers being more creative finding alternative uses for pubs and care homes. Roma has now extended its product offering to obtain more business from a wider range of introducers and customers.

Despite the sector becoming more competitive with a host of new entrants, Roma’s growth allows them to study more cases and profiles of customers than new entrance and P2P lenders.

Several institutional sources and private funding are still catering for specialist criteria and a wide variety of property types, making the funding lines stronger.

Marshall added: “Despite a number of new lenders coming into the short-term lending space, our knowledge of the complexities of bridging cases and our ability to be pragmatic when challenged means we still remain a solid choice for those looking to acquire investment properties quickly, renovate them or change their use.”

“We are also finding the number of introducers we’re working with on multiple projects increasing which is very satisfying in such a competitive market.”