Paragon Bank increased buy-to-let lending by 19.5% during the first half of its financial year on the back of strong demand from portfolio landlords.
Paragon completed £854.6m of buy-to-let loans in the six months to 31 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 £353m of completions were for properties with an EPC of between A and C, a 38.4% increase on 2021.
The pipeline of new buy-to-let business ended the period 44.4% higher than last year to £1.34bn. Meanwhile, the mortgage loan book ended the period at £12 billion, compared with £11.13bn in 2021.
Total lending across the Paragon Banking Group’s divisions increased by 32.2% compared to the same period last year to £1.49bn. Pre-tax profits at the company increased 49% to £143.6mn.
Richard Rowntree, Paragon Bank managing director of Mortgages, said: “These are an excellent set of results which reflect Paragon’s focus on the specialist end of the buy-to-let market.
“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.”
He added: “I am 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.”
Arrears on the buy-to-let book remained low and broadly stable in the six months at 0.15% (31 March 2021: 0.22%). Paragon’s buy-to-let arrears remain very low compared to performance in the national buy-to-let market, as they have been through the life of Paragon’s product.
