It also posts strong numbers in other areas
On the back of strong demand from portfolio landlords, Paragon Bank increased buy-to-let lending by 19.5% during the first half of its financial year.
Paragon completed £854.6 million of buy-to-let loans in the six months to the end of March 2022, 98.2% of which were classed as specialist buy-to-let.
The period saw a particularly strong increase in green mortgage completions after Paragon launched its green product range, offering a pricing incentive for more energy efficient properties. A total of £353 million of completions were for properties with an EPC rating of between A and C, a 38.4% increase on 2021.
Read more: Paragon Bank expands green BTL range.
The pipeline of new buy-to-let business ended the period 44.4% higher than last year at £1.34 billion. Meanwhile, the mortgage loan book ended the period at £12 billion, compared with £11.13 billion in 2021.
Total lending across the Paragon Banking Group’s divisions increased by 32.2%, compared to the same period last year, at £1.49 billion. Pre-tax profits at the company increased 49% to £143.6 million.
“These are an excellent set of results which reflect Paragon’s focus on the specialist end of the buy-to-let market,” Richard Rowntree (pictured), managing director of mortgages at Paragon Bank, said.
“Portfolio landlords demonstrated a strong desire to acquire additional property during the period, helping to underpin the private rented sector at a time of record tenant demand.”
Rowntree added that he was particularly pleased to see landlords starting to prepare for expected changes to minimum energy performance standards in the private rented sector, with growth in lending on EPC A-C properties.
“This will be a big focus for the industry as we move towards a net zero future,” he said.
Arrears on the buy-to-let book remained low and broadly stable in the six months at 0.15%. Paragon’s buy-to-let arrears also remained very low compared to performance in the national buy-to-let market.
