Paragon Mortgages saw new lending reach £446.2 million – a 65.7% increase on the same period last year. The pipeline of applications stood at £701.4 million on the 31st March – a 101.5% increase on the same period last year.
John Heron, Director of Paragon Mortgages, said:
“It has been a fantastic start to the year for our mortgage business and we are very well-placed for the months ahead.
“We have seen a marked increase in our application levels as a result of Paragon delivering a broader and more competitive proposition to the buy-to-let market. This has been fuelled by the success of our strategy to expand and diversify our funding capability. Our latest mortgage securitisation tapped into the Euro market for the first time since the crisis, which provides the Group with access to a much deeper investor base than is available in sterling alone.
“Alongside this we have seen the successful launch of Paragon Bank, which has given the Group access to the retail savings market. This has helped the Group deliver improved products across the loan-to-value spectrum, a much stronger longer-term fixed rate proposition and the re-launch of Paragon buy-to-let lending in Scotland.
“Overall, this has allowed us to present a much more comprehensive proposition to our intermediary partners where we have relationships going back some 30 years. The intermediary market has responded well to this and we have seen a marked increase in application flows which has started to drive higher levels of completions."
