LendInvest posted new mortgage lending that jumped 67% to £487m from a year ago, and plans to launch products and boost broker relationships in the second half of its financial year.

The platform, which lends to residential and landlord borrowers, said its home loans were “supported by strong enquiry volumes and an active pipeline”, in a first-half trading statement to the end of September.

It added that it had seen a “rebound” in the buy-to-let market, which “has shown consistent growth, averaging £59m in new loan completions per month and £157m in monthly enquiries, up 122% year-on-year”.

In the period, it boosted a funding partnership with JP Morgan by £500m to £1.5bn, “to support growth in the mortgages division”.

It also extended revolving finance agreement with BNP Paribas, Barclays and  HSBC “on improved terms”.

The platform said it would “relaunch a streamlined residential mortgage proposition in the second half of its financial year.

It pointed out: “To support this, we will strengthen partnerships with brokers and mortgage clubs, introduce roaming underwriters, raise our brand profile through industry engagement, and maintain an agile underwriting process.”

It added that it is “exploring ancillary, complimentary offerings, including foreign national BTL mortgages and second-charge lending for residential mortgages, which align well with our existing product mix”.

The business said that markets expect the Bank of England “to continue lowering the base rate by 0.25% per quarter, potentially bringing it below 4% by early 2026, which is 0.50% higher than what was priced in by the market in September”.

It added: “Although this projection is slightly higher than our previous forecast, the mortgage market remains resilient.

“Mortgage approvals have nearly returned to pre-pandemic levels, with remortgage approvals up 52% year-on-year as of September 2024.”

LendInvest chief executive Rod Lockhart said: “While recent performance — including achieving profitability in September — has been encouraging, ongoing interest rate volatility, triggered by both macro-economic and geopolitical uncertainty, could present headwinds in the second half.

“However, we are reassured by supportive UK government measures aimed at catalysing house building, improving energy efficiency and professionalising the BTL sector. As such, we remain cautiously optimistic about achieving run-rate profitability during the rest of the year.”

The asset management and property finance platform, founded in 2013, said overall lending in the period lifted 30% to £539.1m, while its pre-tax loss plummeted by 89% to £1.7m from a year ago.