Bristol Development Exit Report, H1 2026
Who is lending to developers in Bristol, 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 June 2026, development loans filed as repaid grew 94.4% to 35 across Bristol. Next largest, registered new-build sales slipped 46.6% to 132 over the latest settled year. The age of the local development book stands out less than you might think: 59.9% of live charges are older than two years, against 60.6% for England and Wales. 478 residential approvals over the latest 12 months set up the pipeline that will need refinancing next.
Bristol at a glance
How each signal moved over the year, measured the same way for every location we report on.
| Signal | Bristol | Change | Basis | Direction |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New development charges | 88 | +31.3% | 12 months to June 2026 vs the 12 months before | Up |
| Development charges satisfied (exits filed) | 35 | +94.4% | 12 months to June 2026 vs the 12 months before; recent filings provisional | Up |
| Exit-type lending to developers | 47 | +2.2% | bridging, specialist-bank and private-credit charges on development companies | Flat |
| Live development book over 24 months old | 59.9% | -0.7 pts | at 30 June 2026, compared with 60.6% across England and Wales | In line |
| New-build sales registered | 132 | -46.6% | settled 12 months (registration lag allowed for) vs the 12 months before | Down |
| New developer and property companies | 304 | +2.4% | SIC 41100, 41202, 68100 by registered office; live register only | Flat |
Development lending and exits in Bristol
The register shows 88 new development charges in Bristol across the 12 months to June 2026, up 31.3% on the prior 12 months, spread over 48 borrowers.
Repayments ran at 35 over the same 12 months: 0.4 repayments per new loan (England and Wales: 0.4). Exits are keeping up with new lending.
Loans repaid over the year had been outstanding for a median 27.3 months.
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. Repayments are filed late, so the latest six months are provisional.
Companies House charge register, Construction Capital analysis
Bridging and specialist lending to Bristol developers
The exit and refinance market in Bristol registered 47 charges on development companies over the latest year, up 2.2% from 46.
By lender type, bridging lenders led with 24. H1 2026 on its own: 27 (H1 2025: 28).
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 Bristol
Specialist money (bridging, specialist banks, development lenders and funds) accounted for 84.7% of matched property charges in Bristol, compared with 88.4% for England and Wales. Mainstream banks do relatively more here: specialists are 4 points below the national share.
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 July 2025 shows 132 new homes sold in Bristol, compared with 247 in the year before. A new-build share of 2.1%; England and Wales ran at 8.3%.
The new-build premium was 20.2% on flats (£312,640 median).
All residential sales totalled 6,254 in the settled 12 months to January 2026 (+7.1% 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
Bristol City Council approved 478 residential applications between 8 September 2025 and 8 September 2026, with 260 still pending. By type: 249 other relevant, 100 change of use, 35 new build.
Where an approval states units (138 of them), they add up to at least 702 homes.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hengrove Leisure Park Hengrove Way Bristol Bs14 0hr | 322 | other residential | 2026-03-31 |
| 493 - 499 Bath Road Brislington Bristol Bs4 3ju | 90 | other relevant | 2026-04-27 |
| South Bristol Rehabilitation Centre 30 Inns Court Green Bristol Bs4 1tf | 21 | other relevant | 2026-02-27 |
| 64 Park Street City Centre Bristol Bs1 5jn | 12 | change of use | 2025-09-19 |
| 286 - 292 Wells Road Knowle Bristol Bs4 2pu | 9 | conversion | 2025-12-02 |
New developer companies
304 new development and property companies registered in Bristol in the year to June 2026 (+2.4%), 140 of them as developers.
H1 2026 brought 153 against 172 in H1 2025.
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.
Bristol against England and Wales
| Measure | Bristol | Change | England and Wales | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New development charges, 12 months | 88 | +31.3% | 9,544 | +11.7% |
| Development charges satisfied, 12 months | 35 | +94.4% | 3,785 | +21.1% |
| Live development book at 30 June 2026 | 349 | 41,855 | ||
| Share of live book over 24 months old | 59.9% | 60.6% | ||
| Exit-type lending to developers, 12 months | 47 | +2.2% | 5,241 | +3.4% |
| New-build sales, settled 12 months | 132 | -46.6% | 68,506 | -6.1% |
| New-build share of sales, settled 12 months | 2.1% | 8.3% | ||
| New developer and property companies, 12 months | 304 | +2.4% | 61,275 | +7% |
What this means for developers exiting in Bristol
2 signals rose in Bristol (new development lending, loan repayments) and 1 fell (new-build sales).
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.
Slower new-build sales stretch the time between completion and the last sale, which is the gap exit finance is designed to cover.
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 Bristol 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 the most recent six months are provisional and will rise. 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 2026-07-31, satisfactions filed to 2026-08-03, company register snapshot 2026-08-01, Land Registry transactions to 2026-07-31. Area covered: City Of Bristol (local authority boundaries). Minimum sample 30. 14 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 Bristol: common questions
How many developers borrowed in Bristol last year?
48 development companies registered 88 charges to development lenders in the 12 months to June 2026, and 35 development loans were filed as repaid over the same period.
Are development schemes in Bristol overrunning?
At 30 June 2026, 59.9% of live development charges in Bristol were over 24 months old (England and Wales: 60.6%). Charges that old usually sit on schemes past their original term.
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 South West
Completing a scheme in Bristol?
Send us the scheme, the current facility and the sales position and we will give a view on the exit options and indicative terms.