Paragon Bank’s buy-to-let pipeline reached a record high of nearly £1 billion at the end of the first quarter of its financial year.

The pipeline at 31 December 2020 stood at £966.8 million, £152.8 million higher than for the same period last year.

The bank expects the pipeline to convert at a faster rate over the coming quarter as landlord customers look to complete ahead of the 31 March Stamp Duty deadline.

Richard Rowntree (pictured), Paragon Bank’s managing director of mortgages, said: “New business has been strong since the housing market reopened in May last year and accelerated in the three months to the end of December as landlords looked to take advantage of the Stamp Duty holiday. Our focus over the next two months will be on working hard to complete those transactions ahead of the window.”

Specialist buy-to-let completions reached £298.7 million during the first quarter of the financial year. Although this represents a £110.8 million reduction when compared to Q1 2020, Paragon says it largely reflects the lagged impacts of the first lockdown on the pipeline and market wide challenges facing the execution of housing transactions.

Paragon’s net loan book grew 2.4% to £12.67 billion during the period. Total advances during the period stood at £521.8 million – £304.1 million mortgage advances and £217.7 million commercial advances.