Paragon Bank, one of the country’s leading specialist buy to let mortgages houses, almost halved its lending to landlords in the last three months of 2016.

It agreed mortgages for rental properties worth £185.2m in the final three months of 2016, compared to almost £401m in the same period a year previously.

Bank of England restrictions on buy to let lending, expressed through tougher guidelines issued by the Bank’s Prudential Regulation Authority, have been blamed for the drop.

“It’s too early to determine the full extent of the PRA changes on the market, and the further changes due later in the year” says a statement from the lender. 

It has also launched a new specialist residential mortgage business, which will be rolled out over the coming months.

The firm says its profit of £33.1m in the three months to December 31 was in line with expectations; its pipeline of future loans is growing, however, and is up 7.4 per cent on the year to £639.8m.