Specialist lender Paragon Mortgages has reported a surge in buy-to-let lending.

In the half year to the end of March, it said that it had advanced £269.3m worth of buy-to-let mortgages, up 167% on the same period 12 months previously.

It expects further expansion, with a pipeline of new business at the end of March of £348.1m.

Its parent company, Paragon Group, reported pre-tax profits of £58.2m for the half year to March 31 – up 19.3% on the same period a year before.

Paragon closed its books to new buy-to-let lending for two years during the credit crunch, restarting in the autumn of 2010.