Paragon Bank has reported a 25% jump in new buy-to-let (BTL) lending in the first half of its financial year, driven by higher demand from landlords.
New BTL loans hit £812.2m for the six months to 31st March 2025, up from £649.3m in the same period last year.
The mortgage loan book finished 4.5% higher at £13.7bn, with most of this made up of BTL loans.
Paragon rolled out a new BTL mortgage originations platform during the period, aimed at speeding up and improving the application process for brokers.
The system is designed to improve application screening and support earlier decision making.
Louisa Sedgwick (pictured), managing director of mortgages at Paragon Bank, said: “A 25% increase in new lending shows the underlying strength of demand in the buy-to-let market.
“There remains an acute mismatch between supply and demand in the rental market and landlords are responding.
“We were delighted to launch our new mortgage originations platform during the period, and we have enjoyed a fantastic response from our intermediary partners.”
Sedgwick added: “This system is already delivering tangible benefits; our pipeline is now a more accurate reflection of future business as we are able to screen applications more effectively and efficiently and give brokers earlier decisions.”
The annualised redemption rate on the BTL book stayed low at 7.1%, with arrears at 0.51%, below the overall market figure of 0.85%.
Loan-to-value (LTV) coverage for the BTL book stayed at 62.8%.
Across the group, pre-provision profits grew 5.2% and underlying profits rose by 2.1% to £149.4m.
The total loan book grew by 4.9% to £16bn, while total lending was up 11.4% to £1.38bn, including growth in development finance and small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) lending.
Nigel Terrington, CEO at Paragon Banking Group, said: “We delivered another strong financial and operational performance in the first half of 2025, reflecting our disciplined approach and consistent track record of execution.
“With strong momentum and a resilient business model, we are well placed to navigate the evolving external environment and remain optimistic about the remainder of the financial year and beyond.”
