MortgagesMay 29 2013

Optimism after growth in BTL market: Paragon

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The director of mortgages for Paragon said the firm was “continuing to see growth in the buy-to-let market” and claimed that “levels of optimism stay high”.

His comments came as the Paragon Group, Paragon Mortgage’s parent company, reported a 10 per cent increase in profits and a 15 per cent increase in buy-to-let lending in the six months to 31 March this year.

During the six-month period the group had announced an extension and increase in warehouse funding and its second securitisation since the financial crisis.

Mr Heron added: “The increased funding capacity has allowed us to compete much more effectively in our core market and lay the foundations for further and sustainable growth in the coming months.

“The pipeline of new business is very healthy at £241.2m. This has more than doubled in the three months to the end of March.”

In the statement, chief executive Nigel Terrington said that recent changes to the FCA’s rules on capital requirements for banking start-ups had encouraged Paragon to apply for a banking licence. Paragon is expected to launch a bank in 2014.

Adviser view

Andrew Montlake, director of London-based mortgage broker Coreco, said: “Paragon is an interesting one as it is a good company and perhaps brokers should be using them more than they do.”