Development exit report · H1 2026

Leeds Development Exit Report, H1 2026

Who is lending to developers in Leeds, 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.

125
New development charges, 12 months to June 2026 (+5.9%)
84
Development loans filed as repaid, same 12 months
62.6%
Live development book over 24 months old (60.6% nationally)
706
New-build sales, latest settled 12 months (-21.6%)
Matt Lenzie
Written and reviewed by Matt Lenzie Founder & Principal Broker · 25 years arranging development finance · Reviewed September 2026
In short

Start with this: in the 12 months to June 2026, development loans filed as repaid grew 78.7% to 84 across Leeds. Meanwhile registered new-build sales slipped 21.6% to 706 over the latest settled year. Loan age matters for exits: 62.6% of Leeds's live development charges passed the two-year mark by June 2026 (national 60.6%). On the planning side, 238 residential applications were approved in the latest 12-month window.

Scorecard

Leeds at a glance

How each signal moved over the year, measured the same way for every location we report on.

SignalLeedsChangeBasisDirection
New development charges125+5.9%12 months to June 2026 vs the 12 months beforeUp
Development charges satisfied (exits filed)84+78.7%12 months to June 2026 vs the 12 months before; recent filings provisionalUp
Exit-type lending to developers64-9.9%bridging, specialist-bank and private-credit charges on development companiesDown
Live development book over 24 months old62.6%+2 ptsat 30 June 2026, compared with 60.6% across England and WalesIn line
New-build sales registered706-21.6%settled 12 months (registration lag allowed for) vs the 12 months beforeDown
New developer and property companies763-2.4%SIC 41100, 41202, 68100 by registered office; live register onlyFlat
Companies House · development lending

Development lending and exits in Leeds

The register shows 125 new development charges in Leeds across the 12 months to June 2026, up 5.9% on the prior 12 months, spread over 74 borrowers.

On the other side of the ledger, 84 development loans were filed as repaid, 0.67 for every new charge against 0.4 nationally. The local book is clearing at least as fast as the national one.

Loans repaid over the year had been outstanding for a median 28.8 months (27.3 the year before).

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.

Leeds: development charges registered and satisfied by quarter, 2022 Q1 to 2026 Q2; faded bars are provisional because repayments are filed late
New development chargesSatisfied (loan repaid)
020406080New development charges, 2022 Q1: 21Satisfied, 2022 Q1: 42022New development charges, 2022 Q2: 15Satisfied, 2022 Q2: 4New development charges, 2022 Q3: 17Satisfied, 2022 Q3: 1New development charges, 2022 Q4: 22Satisfied, 2022 Q4: 3New development charges, 2023 Q1: 29Satisfied, 2023 Q1: 92023New development charges, 2023 Q2: 26Satisfied, 2023 Q2: 3New development charges, 2023 Q3: 39Satisfied, 2023 Q3: 9New development charges, 2023 Q4: 22Satisfied, 2023 Q4: 22New development charges, 2024 Q1: 18Satisfied, 2024 Q1: 222024New development charges, 2024 Q2: 26Satisfied, 2024 Q2: 12New development charges, 2024 Q3: 29Satisfied, 2024 Q3: 9New development charges, 2024 Q4: 44Satisfied, 2024 Q4: 18New development charges, 2025 Q1: 24Satisfied, 2025 Q1: 82025New development charges, 2025 Q2: 21Satisfied, 2025 Q2: 12New development charges, 2025 Q3: 18Satisfied, 2025 Q3: 28New development charges, 2025 Q4: 46Satisfied, 2025 Q4: 17New development charges, 2026 Q1: 26 (censored by registration lag)Satisfied, 2026 Q1: 24 (censored by registration lag)2026New development charges, 2026 Q2: 35 (censored by registration lag)Satisfied, 2026 Q2: 15 (censored by registration lag)

Companies House charge register, Construction Capital analysis

Companies House · exit-type lending

Bridging and specialist lending to Leeds developers

The exit and refinance market in Leeds registered 64 charges on development companies over the latest year, down 9.9% from 71.

By lender type, specialist and challenger banks led with 40. H1 2026 on its own: 31 (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.

Leeds: exit-type lending to developers bridging, specialist-bank and private-credit charges on development companies, rolling four quarters
0204060802022 Q42023 Q42024 Q42026 Q2Exit-type charges, rolling 4Q, 2022 Q4: 60Exit-type charges, rolling 4Q, 2023 Q1: 77Exit-type charges, rolling 4Q, 2023 Q2: 80Exit-type charges, rolling 4Q, 2023 Q3: 74Exit-type charges, rolling 4Q, 2023 Q4: 66Exit-type charges, rolling 4Q, 2024 Q1: 58Exit-type charges, rolling 4Q, 2024 Q2: 51Exit-type charges, rolling 4Q, 2024 Q3: 57Exit-type charges, rolling 4Q, 2024 Q4: 69Exit-type charges, rolling 4Q, 2025 Q1: 69Exit-type charges, rolling 4Q, 2025 Q2: 71Exit-type charges, rolling 4Q, 2025 Q3: 61Exit-type charges, rolling 4Q, 2025 Q4: 61Exit-type charges, rolling 4Q, 2026 Q1: 57Exit-type charges, rolling 4Q, 2026 Q2: 64Charges 64

Companies House charge register, Construction Capital analysis

Companies House · lender categories

Who is lending in Leeds

Specialist money (bridging, specialist banks, development lenders and funds) accounted for 87.0% of matched property charges in Leeds, compared with 88.4% for England and Wales. That is close to the national mix.

Lenders are grouped by category from the Construction Capital lender register and never named.

Who holds the charges: lender categories share of register-matched property charges, 12 months to June 2026
Specialist and challenger banksBridging lendersHigh-street banksDevelopment lenders, funds and other
LeedsLeeds, Specialist and challenger banks: 65.6%66%Leeds, Bridging lenders: 20.4%20%Leeds, High-street banks: 13.0%13%Leeds, Development lenders, funds and other: 1.1%E and WE and W, Specialist and challenger banks: 60.5%61%E and W, Bridging lenders: 27.5%28%E and W, High-street banks: 11.5%12%E and W, Development lenders, funds and other: 0.5%

Companies House charge register, Construction Capital analysis

Land Registry · sales

How quickly new homes are selling

New-build completions registered in Leeds came to 706 over the latest settled year (to July 2025), down 21.6% from 900. That is 6.7% of the market, against a national 8.3%.

Buyers paid 85.2% more for a new flat than a second-hand one, and 46% more for a new house, on median prices.

Total sales, read over the settled year to January 2026 so late registrations do not distort the change: 10,204 (+2.1%).

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.

Leeds: new-build sales registered by half-year; faded bars sit inside the registration lag and will rise
0200400600800New-build sales, 2022 H1: 3862022 H1New-build sales, 2022 H2: 5972022 H2New-build sales, 2023 H1: 4712023 H1New-build sales, 2023 H2: 4492023 H2New-build sales, 2024 H1: 4582024 H1New-build sales, 2024 H2: 4342024 H2New-build sales, 2025 H1: 2922025 H1New-build sales, 2025 H2: 117 (censored by registration lag)2025 H2New-build sales, 2026 H1: 0 (censored by registration lag)2026 H1

HM Land Registry Price Paid Data, Construction Capital analysis

Planning · pipeline

The next wave of schemes needing an exit

The approved pipeline in Leeds: 238 residential consents in the latest 12-month window (82 conversion, 81 new build, 42 other residential), plus 114 pending.

At least 1,845 homes are consented, counting only the 140 approvals that state a number.

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)UnitsTypeDecided
Hilltop Works Buslingthorpe Lane Meanwood Leeds Ls7 2db371other residential2025-11-12
Land At Red Hall Lane Shadwell Leeds352other residential2026-08-21
Phase E Northern Quadrant East Leeds Extension A64 York Road324other residential2026-07-31
Sandbeck Lane At Swinnow Park Wetherby129other residential2026-03-27
3 City Office Park Meadow Lane Holbeck Leeds Ls11 5bd98other residential2026-04-02
Companies House · registrations

New developer companies

763 new development and property companies registered in Leeds in the year to June 2026 (-2.4%), 226 of them as developers.

H1 2026 brought 375 against 438 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.

Benchmark

Leeds against England and Wales

MeasureLeedsChangeEngland and WalesChange
New development charges, 12 months125+5.9%9,544+11.7%
Development charges satisfied, 12 months84+78.7%3,785+21.1%
Live development book at 30 June 202656941,855
Share of live book over 24 months old62.6%60.6%
Exit-type lending to developers, 12 months64-9.9%5,241+3.4%
New-build sales, settled 12 months706-21.6%68,506-6.1%
New-build share of sales, settled 12 months6.7%8.3%
New developer and property companies, 12 months763-2.4%61,275+7%
What it means

What this means for developers exiting in Leeds

Up: new development lending, loan repayments. Down: exit-type lending, 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 Leeds 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: Leeds (local authority boundaries). Minimum sample 30. 8 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.

FAQ

Development exit in Leeds: common questions

How much development lending is there in Leeds?

Development lenders registered 125 new charges in Leeds in the 12 months to June 2026 (+5.9% on the year before), taken by 74 companies. It counts loans taken, not their value.

How old are development loans in Leeds?

62.6% of the 569 development charges live in Leeds 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.

More reports

Other reports in Yorkshire and The Humber

Completing a scheme in Leeds?

Send us the scheme, the current facility and the sales position and we will give a view on the exit options and indicative terms.