Brighton and Hove Development Exit Report, Q3 2026
Who is lending to developers in Brighton and Hove, how many schemes are exiting their development loans, and how quickly new homes are selling. Built from Companies House charges, Land Registry sales and council planning data.
Start with this: in the 12 months to September 2026, new development lending grew 40.4% to 66 charges across Brighton and Hove. Meanwhile development loans filed as repaid slipped 40% to 15. The age of the local development book stands out less than you might think: 61.3% of live charges are older than two years, against 61.3% for England and Wales. On the planning side, 197 residential applications were approved in the latest 12-month window.
Brighton and Hove at a glance
How each signal moved over the year, measured the same way for every location we report on.
| Signal | Brighton and Hove | Change | Basis | Direction |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New development charges | 66 | +40.4% | 12 months to September 2026 vs the 12 months before | Up |
| Development charges satisfied (exits filed) | 15 | -40% | 12 months to September 2026 vs the 12 months before | Down |
| Exit-type lending to developers | 22 | -4.3% | bridging, specialist-bank and private-credit charges on development companies | Flat |
| Live development book over 24 months old | 61.3% | 0 pts | at 30 September 2026, compared with 61.3% across England and Wales | In line |
| New-build sales registered | 89 | +6% | settled 12 months (registration lag allowed for) vs the 12 months before | Up |
| New developer and property companies | 202 | -12.6% | SIC 41100, 41202, 68100 by registered office; live register only | Down |
Development lending and exits in Brighton and Hove
The register shows 66 new development charges in Brighton and Hove across the 12 months to September 2026, up 40.4% on the prior 12 months, spread over 20 borrowers.
On the other side of the ledger, 15 development loans were filed as repaid. That is a repayment ratio of 0.23, below the national 0.41, so more debt is going on than coming off.
A charge is the security a lender registers at Companies House. It shows that a loan was taken and when it was repaid (satisfied), not how much was lent. A quarter-end is provisional until 30 days after the data cut-off, because filings arrive late.
Companies House charge register, Construction Capital analysis
Bridging and specialist lending to Brighton and Hove developers
Brighton and Hove saw 22 exit-type charges registered against development companies in the 12 months to September 2026, against 23 a year earlier (-4.3%).
Specialist and challenger banks held the largest number, 12. The third quarter of 2026 alone brought 4, against 5 in the same quarter of 2025.
Exit-type lending counts charges registered by bridging lenders, specialist banks and private credit funds against companies whose registered business is developing buildings (SIC 41100 or 41202). It is the market that refinances development debt at completion and funds the sales period.
Companies House charge register, Construction Capital analysis
Who is lending in Brighton and Hove
Of 621 property charges in Brighton and Hove we could match to a lender type, 79.1% sat with specialist lenders (national: 87.5%). Specialists are 8 points less prominent than nationally.
Lenders are grouped by category from the Construction Capital lender register and never named.
Companies House charge register, Construction Capital analysis
How quickly new homes are selling
The settled Land Registry year to September 2025 shows 89 new homes sold in Brighton and Hove, compared with 84 in the year before. A new-build share of 2.3%; England and Wales ran at 8.1%.
Buyers paid 9.7% more for a new flat than a second-hand one, on median prices.
All residential sales totalled 3,324 in the settled 12 months to April 2026 (-21.6% on the year before).
Land Registry registers new-build plot sales up to a year after completion, so new-build figures use the latest settled 12 months. Prices are transaction-sample medians, not a like-for-like index.
HM Land Registry Price Paid Data, Construction Capital analysis
The next wave of schemes needing an exit
Between 1 July 2025 and 30 September 2026, 197 residential applications were approved (53 conversion, 43 new build, 41 change of use) and 100 awaited a decision.
Stated unit counts total 513 homes across 164 approvals, a floor rather than the full figure.
Residential applications from council planning portals over each council's latest 12-month window. Unit counts are only stated on some applications, so unit totals are a floor.
| Largest approved schemes (stated units) | Units | Type | Decided |
|---|---|---|---|
| Near Bn3 8ap | 101 | new build | 2026-09-02 |
| Near Bn2 5qa | 36 | new build | 2026-04-16 |
| 30 | conversion | 2026-02-18 | |
| Near Bn3 3ln | 12 | prior approval | 2025-07-01 |
| Near Bn2 6wd | 10 | new build | 2026-09-07 |
New developer companies
New single-purpose companies are where most schemes start. Brighton and Hove added 202 in the year to September 2026, down 12.6% on the prior year, 94 of them developers.
There were 46 in the quarter, against 55 in the same months of the previous year.
Companies registered with SIC 41100, 41202 or 68100, placed by registered office. The register lists live companies only, so earlier periods lose companies since dissolved.
Brighton and Hove against England and Wales
| Measure | Brighton and Hove | Change | England and Wales | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New development charges, 12 months | 66 | +40.4% | 9,562 | +11.3% |
| Development charges satisfied, 12 months | 15 | -40% | 3,908 | +21.2% |
| Live development book at 30 September 2026 | 282 | 42,944 | ||
| Share of live book over 24 months old | 61.3% | 61.3% | ||
| Exit-type lending to developers, 12 months | 22 | -4.3% | 5,002 | -0.4% |
| New-build sales, settled 12 months | 89 | +6% | 67,091 | -7.1% |
| New-build share of sales, settled 12 months | 2.3% | 8.1% | ||
| New developer and property companies, 12 months | 202 | -12.6% | 58,644 | -5.1% |
What this means for developers exiting in Brighton and Hove
2 signals rose in Brighton and Hove (new development lending, new-build sales) and 2 fell (loan repayments, new companies).
The age profile is close to the national picture, so the case for exit finance rests on each scheme's own sales rate, not a local squeeze.
More new-build sales being registered means buyers are there, which makes exit loans easier to size.
Terms depend on the scheme, the sales evidence and the developer, and no finance is guaranteed. We are a finance broker, not a lender. Development exit finance for companies is unregulated lending.
Read how a development exit loan is sized, or compare the national picture in the Development Exit Demand Tracker. Local market detail sits on our development exit finance in Brighton and Hove page.
Methodology and sources
Companies House charges (security instruments, not loans: no amounts, LTVs or rates). Development lending = charges held by specialist development lenders, or by development-active mixed lenders where the borrower carries SIC 41100/41202, the charge wording names development land or a site, or the borrower is a newly incorporated (within 12 months) SIC 68100 company with no buy-to-let SIC (the same rule as the national Development Exit Demand Tracker). Exit-type lending to developers = charges registered by bridging, specialist-bank and private-credit (funder) lenders against companies carrying SIC 41100/41202. A charge is placed by its charged-property postcode, or failing that the borrower's registered office. 'Satisfied' is the filed repayment of a charge: the exit. Exit refinance events are new charges registered on the same title after a specialist development lender's charge was repaid or released (charge stacks, same-group and same-company pairs excluded). Satisfactions are filed late, so a quarter-end stays provisional until 30 days after the data cut-off. Lender categories come from the Construction Capital lender register; lenders are never named.
Land Registry registers new-build plot sales up to a year after completion, so new-build counts, shares and premiums are read only over the settled 12 months ending a year before the data vintage (settled12m) and compared with the 12 months before that. New-build figures in the most recent windows are incomplete and are not used for any headline. HMLR Price Paid, standard (category A) residential sales (detached, semi, terraced, flat) in the location's local authorities. New-build premium compares the median new-build price with the median existing-stock price within flats and within houses; it is a transaction-sample median, not a constant-quality index. Registrations lag completions by weeks to months, so the most recent months (and new-build plots especially) understate final counts; trailing-12-month figures are the steadier read.
Residential planning applications (new build, conversion, prior approval, mixed use, HMO, demolition and rebuild) from the Construction Capital council-portal scrapes, one record set per authority, over each council's rolling 12-month scrape window. Unit counts are stated only on some applications, so totals undercount. Councils not yet scraped are listed as missing, never estimated.
New companies with SIC 41100, 41202 or 68100 by registered-office postcode. The register snapshot holds live companies only, so earlier windows lose companies since dissolved; read year-on-year change as indicative.
Data vintage: charges registered to 2026-10-30, satisfactions filed to 2026-11-02, company register snapshot 2026-11-01, Land Registry transactions to 2026-09-30. Area covered: Brighton And Hove (local authority boundaries). Minimum sample 30. 19 cuts suppressed for sample size.
Sources: Companies House charge register, Construction Capital analysis; HM Land Registry Price Paid Data, Construction Capital analysis; Council planning portals, Construction Capital planning scrape. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Companies House data is public and reused under the Open Government Licence.
You are welcome to cite or chart these figures with a link to this page.
Development exit in Brighton and Hove: common questions
How many developers borrowed in Brighton and Hove last year?
20 development companies registered 66 charges to development lenders in the 12 months to September 2026, and 15 development loans were filed as repaid over the same period.
How old are development loans in Brighton and Hove?
61.3% of the 282 development charges live in Brighton and Hove at the end of September 2026 had been in place for over two years, against 61.3% nationally.
What is development exit finance?
A short-term loan taken at or near practical completion. It repays the development lender and funds the sales or letting period, often at a lower rate than the development loan it replaces, and can release equity for the next scheme. Our development exit finance page covers how it is sized and priced.
Where does this data come from?
Companies House charges and company registrations, HM Land Registry Price Paid Data and council planning portals, all analysed by Construction Capital. Figures below the minimum sample of 30 are suppressed, and lenders are grouped into categories rather than named.
Other reports in Sussex
Completing a scheme in Brighton and Hove?
Send us the scheme, the current facility and the sales position and we will give a view on the exit options and indicative terms.