Cardiff Development Exit Report, H1 2026
Who is lending to developers in Cardiff, 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.
The biggest move in Cardiff over the year to June 2026: development loans filed as repaid dropped 66.7% to 4. Next largest, new development lending dropped 48.6% to 18 charges. Loan age matters for exits: 73.7% of Cardiff's live development charges passed the two-year mark by June 2026 (national 60.6%). On the planning side, 511 residential applications were approved in the latest 12-month window.
Cardiff is a small market on the charge register (fewer than 30 new development charges in the year), so percentages built on those charges are suppressed. The counts are published as they stand.
Cardiff at a glance
How each signal moved over the year, measured the same way for every location we report on.
| Signal | Cardiff | Change | Basis | Direction |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New development charges | 18 | -48.6% | 12 months to June 2026 vs the 12 months before | Down |
| Development charges satisfied (exits filed) | 4 | -66.7% | 12 months to June 2026 vs the 12 months before; recent filings provisional | Down |
| Exit-type lending to developers | 11 | -35.3% | bridging, specialist-bank and private-credit charges on development companies | Down |
| Live development book over 24 months old | 73.7% | +13.1 pts | at 30 June 2026, compared with 60.6% across England and Wales | Above national |
| New-build sales registered | 267 | -33.2% | settled 12 months (registration lag allowed for) vs the 12 months before | Down |
| New developer and property companies | 486 | +0.6% | SIC 41100, 41202, 68100 by registered office; live register only | Flat |
Development lending and exits in Cardiff
Development lenders registered 18 new charges against sites and developers in Cardiff in the 12 months to June 2026, against 35 in the 12 months before (-48.6%). Those charges were taken by 14 separate borrowing companies.
Set against that, 4 development charges were satisfied (repaid) in the same year. The sample is too small to express as a ratio.
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 Cardiff developers
The exit and refinance market in Cardiff registered 11 charges on development companies over the latest year, down 35.3% from 17.
Most came from specialist and challenger banks (6). Comparing half-years, 5 in H1 2026 against 6 in H1 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 Cardiff
Of 733 property charges in Cardiff we could match to a lender type, 79.0% sat with specialist lenders (national: 88.4%). Specialists are 9 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
Cardiff recorded 267 new-build sales in the settled 12 months to July 2025, against 400 the year before (-33.2%). A new-build share of 5.8%; England and Wales ran at 8.3%.
The new-build premium 42% on houses (£418,997).
All residential sales totalled 4,598 in the settled 12 months to January 2026 (+2.5% 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
The approved pipeline in Cardiff: 511 residential consents in the latest 12-month window (250 other relevant, 138 change of use, 64 conversion), plus 206 pending.
Stated unit counts total 656 homes across 110 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Land At Church Farm Cefn Mably Road Lisvane Cardiff | 205 | other residential | 2026-04-02 |
| Phase 1 Parcel 2c, Plasdwr Land South Of Llantrisant Road Cardiff | 184 | other residential | 2026-02-16 |
| Former Phoenix Industrial & Engineering Supplies Clarence Road Butetown Cardiff Cf10 5fa | 12 | other relevant | 2026-01-22 |
| Former Ely Housing Office Site Land At The Junction Of Pendine Road/Grand Avenue Ely Cardiff Cf5 4bl | 11 | other relevant | 2026-07-31 |
| Phoenix House 8 Cathedral Road Pontcanna Cardiff Cf11 9lj | 9 | new build | 2026-02-09 |
New developer companies
Company formation is an early pipeline signal: 486 new property and development companies in Cardiff over the latest year, 221 registered as developers (SIC 41100 or 41202).
The first six months of 2026 saw 239 (308 in the same months of 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.
Cardiff against England and Wales
| Measure | Cardiff | Change | England and Wales | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New development charges, 12 months | 18 | -48.6% | 9,544 | +11.7% |
| Development charges satisfied, 12 months | 4 | -66.7% | 3,785 | +21.1% |
| Live development book at 30 June 2026 | 186 | 41,855 | ||
| Share of live book over 24 months old | 73.7% | 60.6% | ||
| Exit-type lending to developers, 12 months | 11 | -35.3% | 5,241 | +3.4% |
| New-build sales, settled 12 months | 267 | -33.2% | 68,506 | -6.1% |
| New-build share of sales, settled 12 months | 5.8% | 8.3% | ||
| New developer and property companies, 12 months | 486 | +0.6% | 61,275 | +7% |
What this means for developers exiting in Cardiff
Up: none. Down: new development lending, loan repayments, exit-type lending, new-build sales.
With more of the local book past 24 months than nationally, more schemes here are likely to be completing late or selling slowly. That is where a development exit loan earns its keep: it repays the development lender, stops default interest and gives the sales period room.
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 Cardiff 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: Cardiff (local authority boundaries). Minimum sample 30. 18 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 Cardiff: common questions
Is development lending rising in Cardiff?
No, it fell: 18 new development charges in the year to June 2026, -48.6% on the previous 12 months, according to the Companies House charge register.
How old are development loans in Cardiff?
73.7% of the 186 development charges live in Cardiff at the end of June 2026 had been in place for over two years, against 60.6% 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 Wales
Completing a scheme in Cardiff?
Send us the scheme, the current facility and the sales position and we will give a view on the exit options and indicative terms.