Home » Uncategorised »
Paragon Grows New Mortgage Lending by 23% in the First Half
This article is an external press release originally published on the Landlord News website, which has now been migrated to the Just Landlords blog.
In the last six months, Paragon’s mortgage lending total has seen an increase of 23% to £721m. This progress was underpinned by a 21% increase in its well-established buy-to-let lending, which increased to £671m.
Recent results have highlighted a marked shift towards concentration of buy-to-let activity among more professional investors, with the proportion of advances made to corporate and complex landlords in the first six months reaching 72% compared with 60% last year.
The new buy-to-let mortgage, with an initial fixed rate period of five years, saw an increase in customer interest, thus increasing the total of advances to 72%. This is double the level recorded in the first half of the year in 2017.
Higher customer retention levels have been secured following the launch of a new online switch and additional advance service in 2018. An increased number of customers have decided to fix their loans for an extended period due to the maturity of their existing deal.
According to UK Finance, arrears on Paragon’s buy-to-let loan portfolio also remained very low at 0.09% compared with an average performance across the national buy-to-let market of 0.42%.
Paragon’s recently developed specialist residential mortgage proposition achieved an increase in advances from £0.4m to £23m as a result of efficacious first phase expansion in distribution. This proposition is directed at customers with inconsistent or irregular incomes, more complex employment patterns and those who are looking to borrow into retirement.
John Heron, Managing Director of Mortgages at Paragon said: “Recent tax and regulatory changes have had a significant impact on the buy-to-let market driving a polarisation between smaller scale and more professional portfolio landlords and a retreat of some lenders from the provision of new products for portfolio landlords.
“Paragon’s many years of experience in this segment and focus on specialist underwriting means that we are well positioned to cater for the requirements of the larger scale, professional landlord with potential to outperform in this strategic segment of the market.”
