The buy-to-let lender has advanced £50.2m buy-to-let loans to date since returning to new lending, with £94.7m in the pipeline.
Highlights of the results include:
•ï€ ï€ ï€ ï€ Pre-tax profits of £39.5 million (2010 H1: £29.3 million)
•ï€ ï€ ï€ ï€ Buy-to-let arrears, at 0.75% (2010 H1: 1.17%), falling materially and significantly below industry averages
•ï€ ï€ ï€ ï€ Buy-to-let redemption rate at historic lows
•ï€ ï€ ï€ ï€ New business initiatives deliver £3.5 million profits
Commenting, John Heron, director of mortgages at Paragon, said: “The performance of the buy-to-let portfolio continues to be exemplary with strong customer retention and low arrears levels combining to deliver excellent revenues and profits for the period.
“Arrears across Paragon’s £8.2 billion of buy-to-let loan assets continues to fall and at 0.75%, including Receiver of Rent cases, is outperforming both market peers and the wider mortgage sector.
“We have been encouraged by business levels to date and they have been in line with our expectations. Our initial focus on returning to the market was re-establishing our distribution base and we have widened our product range to cater for a broader spectrum of landlord customers.
“We have three main intermediary channels and have built strong relationships with all of these, including specialist commercial finance brokers, directly authorised mortgage adviser firms and key networks."
Heron added: “In addition to developing our new lending proposition, we have been building the loan portfolio acquisition and third party servicing arms of our business. We feel this is a growth area and with an estimated £250 billion in unwanted loan assets up for sale by UK banks there are opportunities in the marketplace.”
