Complex Buy To Let
Paragon and Octopus announce Scotland expansion plans
Octopus Property has announced it will begin lending in Scotland later this year while Paragon Bank is also expanding its offering north of the border.
Speaking at the National Association of Commercial Finance Brokers (NACFB) Commercial Finance Expo 2018, Octopus Property head of sales D’mitri Zaprzala (pictured) revealed the lender’s intention to enter Scotland.
“We historically have not lent in Scotland – as a specialist lender we started in London and the South East and we have grown that out to covering all of England,” he said.
“But we currently have papers in with our board to expand to Scotland, because much as we do across other parts of England, we see the opportunity where we are lending more than ever.
“Hopefully Scotland will follow suit,” he added.
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Zaprzala was reluctant to put a time limit on the expansion plans, but was hopeful it could begin in the next three months.
Paragon portfolio BTL
Meanwhile, Paragon Bank will be expanding its buy-to-let offering in Scotland to include portfolio and limited company landlords.
Paragon Bank director John Heron told Specialist Lending Solutions: “We are very well progressed with this development and we expect to launch our enhanced products and criteria for Scotland this summer.”
Speaking at the expo, Heron noted the Scottish market was worth about 5% of gross buy-to-let completions per year, but until the last couple of years this had typically been mostly non-portfolio based.
“The introduction of Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) regulations has not just changed the structure of market in England and Wales, it has clearly changed the structure of the market in Scotland as well,” he said.
“So demand in the Scottish market is definitely increasing for portfolio lending and particularly for lending from incorporated landlords.
“Our position for commercial reasons has been to limit our proposition in Scotland to non-portfolio lending, essentially, but going forward, we’re going to extend that to portfolio lending including incorporated lending,” he added.