Specialist lender Paragon Banking Group saw new lending increase by 6.9% – to £1.59bn – in H1, marking year-on-year growth of 4.6%.
New mortgage lending (£1.02bn) was 19.1% higher than the £0.86bn achieved in 2022 H1, with a continued focus on professional landlords, which represented 98.6% of completions in the period.
Paragon’s commercial lending totalled £0.57bn, 9.4% down on the year prior.
The firm’s buy-to-let (BTL) pipeline stood at £0.81bn, compared with £1.34bn a year earlier, reflecting strong completions and weak application flows in the post mini-Budget period.
Recent application flows were stronger, with the pipeline up nearly 20% from its intra-period low and continuing to increase after the period end.
Paragon reported that its development finance lending pipeline reflected the national picture on housing development, with developer caution regarding prices, cost inflation and supply chain reliability.
The pipeline at 31st March 2023 stood at £0.71bn, compared with £0.86bn a year earlier.
Nigel Terrington (pictured), chief executive at Paragon, said: “We are delighted to deliver another strong financial and operational performance, achieving record interim operating profits, alongside robust growth in our loan book.
“New mortgage lending increased by 19.1% due to our focus on supporting professional landlords, who continue to see strong portfolio growth and tenant demand.
“Our commercial lending loan book increased by 13.9%, supporting Paragon’s diversification strategy.”
He added: “The group has a high-quality loan book, 99% of which is secured, virtually all on low loan-to-value [LTV] properties.
“Notwithstanding the more volatile and disruptive environment, our portfolios are performing resiliently.
“We are well placed to continue to support our customers and deliver strong returns for our shareholders as we look to capitalise on the opportunities that the environment will inevitably produce.”
