Paragon Bank reports a 19% boost in BTL lending

Paragon Bank reports a 19% boost in BTL lending

0:01 AM, 7th June 2023, About A year ago

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Paragon Bank has enjoyed an impressive 19% surge in buy-to-let lending during the first half of this year, reaching £1 billion.

The specialist lender says that the growth is down to the strong demand from landlords following the mini-Budget.

The bank’s BTL pipeline reached £810 million by the end of May.

Paragon says it remains committed to catering to professional landlords, who accounted for 98.6% of completions during the first half of the year.

‘Strong underlying demand for BTL investment’

The bank’s managing director of mortgages, Richard Rowntree, said: “We are delighted with our performance, delivering another half of financial and operational progress, against a backdrop of market volatility.

“We are experiencing strong application flows following the issues caused by the mini-Budget, which reflects the strong underlying demand for BTL investment by portfolio landlords.”

The bank also says there was impressive growth in lending against properties with an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating ranging from A to C.

During the period, lending on eco-friendly buy-to-let products experienced a significant 30% increase, reaching £457.8 million.

Mortgage and commercial new lending

Paragon also reports that its mortgage and commercial new lending rose by 6.9%, to £1.59 billion – which is a 4.6% year-on-year growth in the loan book, which now stands at £14.6 billion.

Although the bank’s statutory pre-tax profit saw a 67.7% decline to £46.4 million, this was mainly down to the unwinding of £82.5 million in fair value gains recognised in the previous year. The underlying profit saw an impressive 22.2% increase, totalling £128.9 million.

Paragon has also boosted its net interest margin, the difference between the interest paid to savers and the interest charged for loans, to 2.95% from 2.57% a year ago.


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