Your latest bridging index puts the market at about £3bn.  How much more can it grow and what factors could stunt/promote growth?

At the heart of the government’s programme to boost Britain's poor housing output record are measures to make it easier for developers to transform underused office and light industrial buildings into new homes.

Recent figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders show that the proportion of adviser-introduced new home loans have now reached their highest-ever level, with brokers now responsible for 69% of all mortgages. This represents a 7% annual increase and beats the previous high set in the opening...

Our latest West One Loans Bridging Index showed that short-term finance continued its upwards trajectory in recent months and has almost broken the £3bn mark after 30% year-on-year growth in the 12 months to the end of June.

Bridging lender West One Loans has set a new monthly lending record by completing more than £45m of loans in July.

Publication: Business Moneyfacts

West One Loans has grown its loan book to £200m, following a strong start to 2015.

You publish a bi-monthly bridging index - why do you think it's important to the bridging sector that we keep track of the figures?

West One Loans completed more than £80m worth of loans in the first quarter of 2015, cementing its position as one of the largest privately funded short-term secured lenders in the UK.

Short-term lending in its various guises may have been around for some time now, but what we know now as the current bridging loan market is still a relatively new concept compared to the mainstream mortgage market. If the bridging market were human, it would be in its later teenage years or...