By Robert Adungo

UK buy-to-let landlords looking to expand their portfolios in 2012 can look forward to enjoying greater choice thanks to growing competition among companies that provide mortgages.

Specialist buy-to-let mortgage provider Paragon Mortgages has fired the first volley in the competition by announcing the launch of 50 new products to the market.

The bulk of the products (44) are designed to cater for professional landlords and existing conditions have been altered to make it easier for intermediaries to easily identify the best products for borrowers.

Small scale landlords have not been forgotten - the remaining six products, available through Paragon's sister firm Mortgage Trust, are targeted at this group and a new change allowing a more flexible approach to minimum income levels has been introduced.

According to John Heron, managing director of Paragon Mortgages, the next year is set to continue experiencing rising demand from tenants and the private rented sector (PRS) will be under pressure to cater for it.

"In order to do this, professional landlords need access to products that meet their specific requirements so that they can grow their business," he says.

"The PRS undoubtedly needs to expand this year to meet the growing demand; we hope that the creation of these new products will help intermediaries increase their offering to landlords and write more quality business."

Other borrowers are also enjoying more variety compared to a year ago. Last month, figures by Mortgage Brain revealed that there are now more than 14,000 mortgage deals on the market, nearly double the 7,519 available a year ago.