Househunters check an estate agent’s window -- Paragon lends to buy-to-let landlords (Yui Mok/PA)
(Picture: PA Wire)Paragon Banking Group revealed today that the chaos in the wake of last year’s mini-Budget was still being felt in the buy-to-let mortgage market in which it specialises, even as overall lending rose.
It branded the short-lived spending plans of Liz Truss’s government as “hugely disruptive to new business flows”, with its loan pipeline shrinking to £748 million at the end of the first quarter of its financial year, from just over £1 billion in the same period a year earlier. That means the company expects completions in the second quarter to fall, as the shockwaves of the September turmoil ripple out.
The disruption came as a record number of fixed-rate deals were pulled by lenders as the market was up-ended by Kwasi Kwarteng’s proposals as Chancellor.
But Paragon said overall demand continued to rise, by almost 45% to over £591 million. Total new lending rose almost 22% to nearly £862 million. Its loan book rose by over 5% to over £14.4 billion.
Shares in the FTSE 250 company rose 13p to 598p.
