I have to admit, this one had passed me by at the time.
Paragon quietly reintroduced an 80% LTV buy-to-let product in April (10th April 2026).
It is a five-year fixed rate, starting at 6.60%, for single self-contained properties with EPC ratings of A to C. It comes with no product fee, no application fee and a free valuation. It is available for investors buying in their own name or through a limited company.
Now, on one level, that is just another mortgage product launch.
But on another level, I think it matters more than that.
Because for quite a while, higher-leverage buy-to-let has been thin on the ground. So when a specialist lender like Paragon brings back 80% LTV, I think it tells us two things.
First, they want business.
Second, they are comfortable enough with the market to take a bit more risk again.
That does not mean we all rush out and lever ourselves to the hilt, obviously. But it is still a meaningful shift.
Why this matters
The obvious attraction is simple enough.
At 80% LTV, you need less deposit.
That can make a very big difference if you are trying to keep some cash back for refurbishments, contingency, stamp duty, furniture, or simply because you would rather not pour every available penny into one purchase.
It can also help if you are trying to do more than one deal and your main constraint is cash rather than appetite.
Paragon’s published criteria show lending up to £800,000 at 80% LTV, with different aggregate loan limits depending on whether you are a smaller investor or a portfolio operator.
That is the good news.
The less exciting bit, of course, is the rate.
6.60% is not cheap money.
We are not back in the days when investors could borrow at rates so low the mortgage almost felt like an administrative detail.
So yes, the higher leverage is useful, but nobody should kid themselves that higher leverage automatically means a better deal.
It simply means you can do more with less cash upfront, which is not quite the same thing.
And this is where I think investors need to stay grown-up about it.
Higher leverage is a tool.
It is not a magic trick.
If you use 80% LTV on the right property, in the right area, with proper margin for error, it can be very useful.
If you use it to make a weak deal look barely acceptable, then all you have really done is borrow yourself into a problem a bit faster.
The bit investors should pay attention to
What caught my eye in Paragon’s guide is not just the headline 80% LTV, but the wider shape of what they are doing.
For five-year fixed single self-contained products, Paragon says the affordability calculation uses either the pay rate or 4.50%, whichever is greater.
That matters because stress testing is one of the reasons some deals have been harder to get away recently.
Their guide also shows that for investors with four or more mortgaged buy-to-lets, limited companies, and HMO or multi-unit block applications, there is no minimum income requirement, although income details still have to be provided.
That may not sound thrilling over your morning coffee, but for investors it is actually quite important.
Because products do not exist in isolation.
It is not just the rate.
It is the rate, the LTV, the fees, the stress test, the property type, the EPC requirement, and the lender’s appetite all working together.
And sometimes a product that looks expensive at first glance can still be useful if it solves the real problem in front of you.
So would I use it?
Possibly, yes.
Not on everything.
Not blindly.
And certainly not just because 80% LTV sounds exciting.
But if I had a solid single let, with decent rental demand, good long-term prospects, and I wanted to preserve cash for other opportunities or works, I would absolutely want to look at it.
Equally, if I were thinly capitalised and hoping the market would bail me out later, I would probably leave it alone.
That is really the point.
The return of 80% LTV is interesting because it gives investors another option.
And good investors like options.
But options are only useful if you know what problem you are trying to solve.
So yes, Paragon bringing this back is worth noticing.
It may be a sign that bits of the buy-to-let finance market are loosening up again.
But that does not mean every investor should pile in.
It just means one more tool is back on the bench.
And for the right deal, in the right hands, that could be very useful.
As ever, this isn’t advice. Don’t draw down loans or mortgages without taking advice from a good mortgage broker.
If you don’t have a mortgage broker, or you’d like a second opinion, I’ll be happy to introduce you to mine.
Just email me at:
and I’ll make the introduction.
Here’s to successful property investing.
Peter Jones
Author, property investor & ex-Chartered Surveyor
P.S. If you’d like help thinking through your buy-to-let strategy properly, you might find my Successful Property Investor’s Strategy Workshop useful.
You can find out more here:
