Secured lending in April has broken through the £40m barrier for the first time in three years, the Secured Loan Index from Loans Warehouse revealed.

And the data showed a 73% monthly, year-on-year increase and more than double the amount of lending in April 2011 bringing the final lending figure for April to £41,752,623 which marked the eighteenth consecutive monthly growth.

Sam Busfield, managing director of Loans Warehouse, said: “Breaking the £40m barrier is a milestone and reaffirms the resurgence of our industry. With the year-on-year monthly figures demonstrating sustained growth, everything is pointing towards 2013 being the real turning point.

“There will no doubt be many challenges ahead but there is an appetite and buzz within the industry not seen for some time.”

The positive lending figures follow the news that the Association of Finance Brokers, the trade body for the secured loan industry, has secured a permanent seat on the board of the Association of Mortgage Intermediaries.

Marie Grundy of VLoans, said: “I am honoured to have been elected by my fellow members of the AFB to represent the interests of the second charge market on the board of AMI.

“There has never been a more crucial time for anyone involved in the second charge market to pull together and get involved in the debates and issues that currently face us. I aim to represent brokers of all sizes and business models and promote an industry I am passionate about to a wider audience.

“My main aims for my new role will be to utilise my industry contacts to increase the membership numbers of the AFB and lobby existing members to get more involved with their trade body to increase the input at our regular meetings.”

But the index showed second charge repossessions increased in the first quarter of 2013 to 226 but according to the Finance & Leasing Association the overall figures remained low and it has forecast less than 750 repossessions this year despite the increased activity in the market.

Busfield said the biggest change in secured loan lending last month was Masthaven Secured Loans’ announcement that it was increasing its maximum loan to value on its Buy-to-let range to 70% LTV.

Stuart Aitken, chief operating officer of MSL, said: “We are very happy with the quality and performance of our buy-to-let lending so far and this month we are delighted to introduce the first 70% LTV mainstream product seen in the secured market for a number of years.

“For reasons including relative affordability, tighter lending criteria and a dearth of mortgage availability, renting from private landlords has almost doubled over the last decade while home ownership remained static.”

The Council of Mortgage Lenders recently reported that buy-to-let lending was up 14% year-on-year in quarter one of 2013 and is now 13.4% of all lending.

Aitken added: “Performance of buy-to-let is better than the owner-occupied sector too, only 8.3% of all arrears were on buy-to-let lending. It continues to thrive and MSL will look to consolidate and grow its share of this exciting market.”

Busfield added: “The secured loan market continues to grow with activity in almost every area of secured lending. The growth in buy-to-let secured loans looks to follow in the footsteps of the buy-to-let mortgage market with rates on both residential and buy-to-let secured loans at all-time lows.”