Paragon Bank has marked 30 years since launching its first mortgage for landlords, celebrating three decades of lending to support the UK’s private rental sector (PRS).
The bank wrote its first landlord mortgage in 1995, a year before the term ‘buy-to-let’ was introduced.
The initial loan was £31,150 at 70% loan-to-value (LTV), secured on a property valued at £45,000.
John Heron, who headed the mortgage product when it launched, led the mortgages division until his retirement in 2019.
Paragon has since supported over 300,000 landlord customers and written more than 240,000 mortgages, with a total value of around £33bn.
Louisa Sedgwick (pictured), managing director of mortgages at Paragon Bank, said: “Buy-to-let is in our DNA, launching our first landlord mortgage a year before the term was even invented.
“We pioneered buy-to-let in the UK and our landlord customers have provided a home to millions of tenants over the last three decades.
“As we all know, the market has changed significantly in the 30 years since we wrote our first landlord mortgage.”
Sedgwick added: “We’ve changed with it, gaining in-depth knowledge, expertise and experience and building a reputation for one of the leading specialist lenders.
“As well as celebrating our fantastic heritage, we’re continuing to move forward and evolving for the benefit of our customers and partners.
“This evolution can be seen in the recent launch of our bespoke mortgage application system, which has enabled us to vastly improve the broker experience.”
She said: “This forms part of a company-wide digitisation programme and supports our diversification strategy which sees us support a broader spectrum of landlords – big and small, old and new – to invest in much needed homes for renters.”
Russell Anderson, commercial director of mortgages at Paragon Bank, said: “Looking back to the mid-90s, the UK was just emerging out of a deep recession that highlighted the need for a housing tenure that provided a home for these who didn’t want to or couldn’t buy a home.
“Underpinned by stronger housing regulation, there was a desire for landlords to purchase homes to rent to the growing tenant market.
“We saw the market opportunity presented by what we know now as buy-to-let mortgages, but at that point didn’t have a collective name.”
Anderson added: “It was hugely exciting and we quickly recognised that we had tapped into a high growth sector.
“Buy-to-let is now a mature, seasoned product that has proven its resilience through many economic cycles, as well as significant regulatory change.
“This strong credit performance is underpinned by demand for good quality, flexible homes, something that will continue as the population grows.”
