Total lending grew by 29% to £1.9bn and included a 21% increase in buy-to-let mortgage lending, with buy-to-let completions reaching £1.4bn for the year.
Paragon Banking Group today reported underlying profits of £145m as it unveiled its full year results for the year to 30 September 2017.
Total lending grew by 29% to £1.9bn and included a 21% increase in buy-to-let mortgage lending, with buy-to-let completions reaching £1.4bn for the year.
Professional landlords and complex portfolios made up 71% of buy-to-let applications.
John Heron (pictured), managing director of mortgages at Paragon, said: “The buy-to-let mortgage market is changing as recent fiscal and regulatory interventions take effect, resulting in a much sharper split between small scale landlords and those with large and more complex property portfolios.
“Paragon’s long-standing approach is well aligned with these developments and is enabling us to support a growing proportion of customers with our specialist expertise as the market evolves.”
The pipeline of buy-to-let loans in process at the year-end was £604m, an increase of 88% on the position a year earlier.
Paragon’s second charge mortgage operations also increased volumes, with new origination levels up by 35% to £61m.
They also made progress with homeowners who are less well served by mainstream lenders, including customers with complex incomes and those who may wish to borrow into retirement.
Paragon increased its commercial lending by 67% to £389m, with strong growth in asset finance, motor finance and residential development lending.
