Paragon Mortgages’ latest Financial Advisor Confidence Tracking (FACT) Index has reported that, on average, intermediaries recorded a 3.1% increase in buy-to-let business during the third quarter of 2011.

The quarterly panel survey of mortgage intermediaries found that overall 43% of intermediaries recorded increasing buy-to-let business levels, compared to 7% who said business levels fell.

Of those reporting an increase in business, 12% said business levels rose by more than 10%, with 13% stating business was up between 6% and 10%. Half of intermediaries said buy-to-let business levels remained unchanged during the period.

The research also showed that buy-to-let mortgages accounted for 24.3% of the total mortgages processed by intermediaries in the third quarter, which has increased from 20% three months ago and is the highest proportion since Paragon started asking the question in the first quarter of 2007. Residential owner-occupied mortgage business accounted for 66.6% of applications, down from 72.2% in the second quarter, which was the lowest level since Paragon started collating the data.

Meanwhile, intermediaries reported an improvement in the availability of buy-to-let finance, with 58% of respondents saying they believed buy-to-let mortgages were more readily available, and 31% saying that it had stayed the same.

John Heron , managing director of Paragon Mortgages, said: “It is positive to see that buy-to-let accounted for a growing percentage of intermediaries’ overall business levels during the third quarter. Given the pressures on the private rented sector