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In its latest survey, the asset-based lender in the commercial property sector found 88 per cent of short-term lenders felt the quality of leads in the market place remained as good if not better than those in 2007, with 44 per cent predicting the market to return to pre-crunch levels within the next 12 months.

More than two-thirds said their business had remained the same or grown since this time last year, with just in excess of half reporting an increase in the average loan size.

Despite the downturn in the market the research suggested potentially strong deals were still circulating and it was up to an adviser's ability to package these deals in a way that met lenders increasingly stringent lending criteria.

Andrew Sobolewski, chief executive officer for Mathon, said: "The commercial bridging sector has had to adapt and diversify in order to continue being a much valued feature of the UK property finance market.

"While the sector remains under-researched, we can see from the results that despite the economic downturn, the level of deal flow remains robust."