Record Loan Volumes and Tightening Spreads: Inside the Q1 2026 Private Lending Market

April 15, 2026.

With 22 business days, expectations for March were high — and the 351 users active on Lightning Docs in March made sure those expectations were met. For the first time ever, Lightning Docs surpassed 7,000 loans in a single month.

It was just last April that we crossed the 5,000 loan threshold, and at that time we were blown away: not just by the adoption of Lightning Docs, but by the growth of private lending as a whole. Less than a year later, reaching 7,000 is a monumental achievement and a clear signal of the industry’s resilience.

Let’s dive into what contributed to this growth and where opportunities are presenting themselves at the end of this first quarter of 2026.

Bridge loans showed continued growth in March, building on February’s renewed momentum. Users who have been active on Lightning Docs since the start of 2025 produced 2,637 bridge loans last month—a 9% increase compared to March of last year, bringing year-over-year growth to 6.8% when comparing Q1 2026 to Q1 2025 across the same 219 users.