Paragon says loans halved

LONDON (Reuters) - Mortgage bank Paragon expects to lend half as much to buy-to-let customers in the first half of 2008 compared to last year because funding is harder to get due to the credit crisis, it said on Monday.

The company said despite demand in the private rented housing sector remaining strong its profits would be lower than the same period last year, partly because of exceptional costs due to an emergency $565 million (284 million pounds) fundraising in February.

The company will continue to pursue options to get funding to provide new loans, including forward flow agreements, it said in a trading statement.

(Reporting by Chris Wills, editing by Sue Thomas)