Half of its total business originated from limited company borrower applicants, and a quarter came from portfolio landlords.

The specialist BTL lender also registered a pre-tax profit of almost £7m, and saw no credit losses for the seventh consecutive time.

In addition, purchase business rose from 28% in 2020 to 42% in 2021 — according to Fleet, this was a result of an acquisitive landlord community, supported by the growth in tenant demand and access to the stamp duty holiday. 

Regionally, the lender saw an increase in business outside Greater London, in particular across regions in the Midlands and the North.

Fleet Mortgages contributed to four securitisations during 2021 under the London Wall and Canada Square securitisations programmes and was fully acquired by Starling Bank in July last year in a £50m cash-and-share deal.

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Bob Young, CEO at Fleet Mortgages (pictured above), said: “2021 was a ground-breaking year for Fleet, not just because of our acquisition by Starling Bank and the significant opportunities this affords us, but also in terms of the way our entire team dealt with the uncertain circumstances brought about by the pandemic and our ability to lend and service to such high standards.

“We’ve always focused on the quality of our loan book, and the securitisations and the fact we had no credit losses again shows that we are continuing to excel in this area. 

“One of the reasons behind the Starling Bank deal was our risk and underwriting standards, and this continues to be a real focus for Fleet as we grow our lending volumes.

“Fleet has entered 2022 with a very strong pipeline of business, and with the support of Starling, we continue to focus on growing the proposition and operation, recruiting quality staff and pursuing our lending ambitions for the year ahead. 

“We want to maintain our service standards, supporting intermediaries in the buy-to-let sector, and ensuring landlords have access to competitively-priced finance to allow them to grow their portfolios. 

“We believe 2022 is going to be another positive year for the BTL sector and are looking forward to playing a full part in the intermediary lending space.”