In its latest results, which covers the six months ending March, the bank said specialist buy-to-let lending came to £838.8m which is up from £686.2m in the same period last year. Simple buy-to-let lending fell from £28.7m to £15.8m.
It continued that total buy-to-let completions in the six-month period was 19.5 per cent higher than in the H1 2021, and its specialist business had risen by 22.2 per cent compared to the same period last year.
Paragon said that its pipeline of new buy-to-let business came to £1.3bn, which is 44.4 per cent higher than a year earlier.
It explained that lending restrictions imposed during the pandemic had been reversed and “further developments” had been introduced, which helped drive volume.
It added that five-year fixed rates were coming to the end of their period, and it had “well established retention procedures” to address such accounts.
Paragon said that arrears were low and broadly stable at 0.15 per cent, which compares to 0.21 per cent in the previous period.
Gross lending volumes
The mortgage business is well placed to continue to develop into the future. It has the capacity and the systems to continue to deliver the service which brokers and customers require, and to support landlord customers and the PRS going forward.
Paragon said that new lending had risen by 32.2 per cent to £1.49bn in H1.
The lender added that volumes of its green buy-to-let products rose by 3.84 per cent compared to the same period last year.
Properties with an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of A or B made up £78.4m in new lending, up from £64.4m in the same period last year. Lending on those with an EPC of C has risen from £190.7m to £274.6m.
Paragon said that 90.8 per cent of its mortgage book by value had an EPC rating, and within that 98.8 per cent were graded E or higher and 38.2 per cent were A to C rated. The lender said this showed “steady improvement”.
Richard Rowntree (pictured), Paragon Bank’s 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.”
