Paragon reports 94% increase in BTL lending

The Group’s Interim Management Statement for the third quarter reported strong operating profits for the nine months to 30 June 2014 of £88.3 million, this compares with £75.7 million for the same time period last year – a 16.6% increase.

Paragon Mortgages had a very strong period with completions of £187 million during the quarter, taking buy-to-let advances for the year to date to £456.3 million, an increase of 94.25% compared to the same period the previous year, (£234.9 million at Q3 2013).

Continued strong new business flows have meant that the pipeline of applications remains very full and at the end of the period totalled £349.8 million.

Earlier this month Paragon also completed its 58th securitisation transaction, Paragon Mortgages No.20, which takes the total Group issuance to £953 million over the past 12 months.

John Heron, Managing Director of Paragon Mortgages, said:

“The last quarter was very successful for the mortgage business and the wider Group. The buy-to-let business continues to grow, and the credit quality remains outstanding.

“The three month plus arrears rate has also reduced from 0.30% at 31 March 2014, to 0.28% at the end of June. This compares very favourably with the market level of buy-to-let arrears which according to CML data was 0.95% at the end of Q1 2014.”