Punters took up the opportunity in Lincolnshire through crowdfunding site Property Partner.

The buy-to-let specialist listed an opportunity to invest in 42 flats in a converted mill at 12.30pm on Wednesday, last week.

The take-up set a world record for the fastest crowdfunding ever, according to the company.

The fundraising, which works out at £1,311 per second, smashed the previous record set by Crowdcube, when it crowdfunded itself on its own platform in July 2014, raising £1.6 million in 16 minutes.

The Lincolnshire deal saw Property Partner nearly double its previous personal best, set when a two-bedroom house in Surrey was backed within 35 minutes in May.

Property Partner’s new record listing offered 42 out of 48 flats plus the entire freehold of a Grade ll listed Sandars Maltings building in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire.

The smallest investment was £50 and the biggest was more than £100,000 and investors are set to receive a rental income dividend of 5.89 per cent a year.

Only 40 per cent of the property development was crowdfunded, with the rest mortgaged on an interest-only basis at a 60 per cent loan-to-value at a five-year fixed rate of 4.50 per cent.