Paragon Banking Group has reported underlying profits of £145 million for the year ended 30 September 2017.

Its total lending grew by 29% to £1.9 billion and included a 21% increase in buy-to-let mortgage lending, with buy-to-let completions reaching £1.4 billion for the year.

Paragon’s pipeline of buy-to-let loans in process at the year end was £604 million, an increase of 88% on the position a year earlier.

Second charge mortgage operations also increased volumes with new origination levels up by 35% to £61 million.

In addition, Paragon increased its commercial lending by 67% to £389 million, with strong growth in asset finance, motor finance and residential development lending.

Savings deposits nearly doubled over the year to £3.6 billion.

John Heron (pictured), managing director of mortgages at Paragon, said: “The buy-to-let mortgage market is changing as recent fiscal and regulatory interventions take effect, resulting in a much sharper split between small scale landlords and those with large and more complex property portfolios.

“Paragon’s long-standing approach is well aligned with these developments and is enabling us to support a growing proportion of customers with our specialist expertise as the market evolves.”