Paragon Bank

Paragon sees 41% rise in development lending



Paragon Bank’s development finance arm registered a 41% jump in advances during the first half of its financial year, underscoring strong demand from SME developers and housebuilders.


The division lent £323.7m during the six months to the end of March, in comparison to £229.5m during the same period in 2021.

Short-term prospects for future lending in the development finance business are still strong, with undrawn balances on facilities having increased to £596.4m from £402m last year.

A noteworthy amount of these are slated to be drawn in the second half of the financial year. 

The new business pipeline stood at £266.7m.
 
Total lending across the Paragon Banking Group’s divisions increased to £1.49bn — 32.2% higher compared to the same period last year — while pre-tax profits rose by 49% to £143.6m. 
 
The division’s loan book ended the period at £672.9m, as opposed to £552.3m the year before.

In addition, the lender agreed £23.5m of new facilities using its development finance green homes initiative.

“These are a pleasing set of results and reflect the efforts of our team during the period,” said Robert Orr, Paragon’s managing director for development finance.

“We have expanded our relationship director team and built a strong support function over the past three years, and we are now seeing the benefit of this through lending growth.” 

Robert added he was particularly pleased to see how Paragon has broadened its lending geographically — mostly around the East, West Midlands and the South West — and confirmed the lender’s plans to further expand regionally.



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