From January to March inclusive, the lender processed its highest-ever volume of loans, with bridging (35%), BTL (26%) and commercial (24%) representing the majority.

The news comes as the firm targets over £1bn worth of loan enquiries and applications for the fourth successive year, which according to the lender it is due to surpass this year.

CSF also saw its number of applications rise by 4% to 1,074 on a like-for-like basis in Q1 of 2024, compared with 2023, which saw 1,027.

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The number of applications almost doubled from 2020 which saw 579 to 1,074 over the past five years — the average number of deals per broker also increased to 4.45 in the first three months of 2024, compared to 2.9 over the same period in 2023.

Jo Breeden, managing director at Crystal (pictured above), said: “This is an outstanding start to 2024 and we’re actively targeting growth at every opportunity.

"Our desire to educate intermediaries — both mainstream and specialist — on the myriad financial solutions for literally every customer requirement has also played a hugely significant part in the numbers and will continue to remain front-and-centre of our market proposition."