Paragon Banking : 26/11/2019 | Portfolio and complex landlord business dominate mortgage completions

• Specialist landlord business now 89% of buy-to-let completions (2018: 79%)
• Buy-to-let pipeline £912 million (2018: £779 million)
• Buy-to-let lending £1.480 billion (2018: £1.495 billion)

Paragon revealed a sharp increase in specialist landlord business, up from 79% to 89% of buy-to-let mortgage completions as it reported full year results today.

Specialist business also increased from 88% to 91% of the buy-to-let pipeline, as Paragon's strategy of focussing on landlords operating in corporate structures and with larger portfolios delivered positive results.

Buy-to-let lending overall was stable year-on-year at £1.480 billion compared to £1.495 billion in 2018, with a 17% increase in the pipeline of business in progress at year end to £912 million.

John Heron, Managing Director of Mortgages at Paragon, said:

Paragon's deep expertise in buy-to-letmeans we are now one of a small number of specialist lenders offering solutionsfor the more complex requirements of the professional portfolio landlord community..

'Following tax and regulatory changes, professional landlords increasingly comprise the core investors in the UK's private rented sector and we continue to support them and our intermediaries with enhanced service and tailored products specially designed to meet their needs.'

Paragon's results show a 9% increase in total new lending across the Group to £2.5 billion, along with an expansion in the net interest margin to 2.29% (2018: 2.21%) and a 5% increase in underlying profit before tax to £164 million (2018: £157 million)

26 November 2019