Surrey Development Exit Report, Q3 2026
Who is lending to developers in Surrey, 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, registered new-build sales dropped 15.7% to 839 over the latest settled year across Surrey. Next largest, bridging and specialist lending to development companies dropped 12.3% to 171 charges. The age of the local development book stands out less than you might think: 62.5% of live charges are older than two years, against 61.3% for England and Wales. On the planning side, 817 residential applications were approved in the latest 12-month window across the 82% of the county we cover.
Surrey at a glance
How each signal moved over the year, measured the same way for every location we report on.
| Signal | Surrey | Change | Basis | Direction |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New development charges | 214 | -10.8% | 12 months to September 2026 vs the 12 months before | Down |
| Development charges satisfied (exits filed) | 116 | +7.4% | 12 months to September 2026 vs the 12 months before | Up |
| Exit-type lending to developers | 171 | -12.3% | bridging, specialist-bank and private-credit charges on development companies | Down |
| Live development book over 24 months old | 62.5% | +1.2 pts | at 30 September 2026, compared with 61.3% across England and Wales | In line |
| New-build sales registered | 839 | -15.7% | settled 12 months (registration lag allowed for) vs the 12 months before | Down |
| New developer and property companies | 1,051 | -4.5% | SIC 41100, 41202, 68100 by registered office; live register only | Flat |
Development lending and exits in Surrey
The register shows 214 new development charges in Surrey across the 12 months to September 2026, down 10.8% on the prior 12 months, spread over 132 borrowers.
Set against that, 116 development charges were satisfied (repaid) in the same year. That is a repayment ratio of 0.54, at or above the national 0.41, so exits are keeping pace.
Typical loan life on repayment: 28.2 months at the median, shorter than the 36 months of the prior year.
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 Surrey developers
Surrey saw 171 exit-type charges registered against development companies in the 12 months to September 2026, against 195 a year earlier (-12.3%).
Specialist and challenger banks held the largest number, 110. The third quarter of 2026 alone brought 25, against 61 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 Surrey
Specialist money (bridging, specialist banks, development lenders and funds) accounted for 84.3% of matched property charges in Surrey, compared with 87.5% for England and Wales. Specialists are 3 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
Surrey recorded 839 new-build sales in the settled 12 months to September 2025, against 995 the year before (-15.7%). New-build made up 4.7% of all sales (8.1% nationally).
The new-build premium was 40% on flats (£392,000 median) and 8.3% on houses (£631,000).
Across the whole market, 15,233 homes changed hands in the 12 months to April 2026, down 19.8% 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 Surrey: 817 residential consents in the latest 12-month window (338 new build, 110 prior approval, 97 replacement dwelling), plus 419 pending.
At least 6,518 homes are consented, counting only the 735 approvals that state a number.
Not yet covered: Runnymede, Tandridge.
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 Gu23 6fq | 459 | reserved matters | 2025-09-18 |
| Near Rh2 8qq | 446 | reserved matters | 2026-07-27 |
| Near Rh2 8fl | 300 | outline | 2026-03-31 |
| Near Kt22 8ux | 270 | outline | 2026-06-04 |
| Near Kt12 4lj | 221 | new build | 2025-11-03 |
New developer companies
1,051 new development and property companies registered in Surrey in the year to September 2026 (-4.5%), 503 of them as developers.
Q3 2026 brought 233 against 311 in Q3 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.
Surrey against England and Wales
| Measure | Surrey | Change | England and Wales | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New development charges, 12 months | 214 | -10.8% | 9,562 | +11.3% |
| Development charges satisfied, 12 months | 116 | +7.4% | 3,908 | +21.2% |
| Live development book at 30 September 2026 | 1,092 | 42,944 | ||
| Share of live book over 24 months old | 62.5% | 61.3% | ||
| Exit-type lending to developers, 12 months | 171 | -12.3% | 5,002 | -0.4% |
| New-build sales, settled 12 months | 839 | -15.7% | 67,091 | -7.1% |
| New-build share of sales, settled 12 months | 4.7% | 8.1% | ||
| New developer and property companies, 12 months | 1,051 | -4.5% | 58,644 | -5.1% |
What this means for developers exiting in Surrey
1 signal rose in Surrey (loan repayments) and 3 fell (new development lending, 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 Surrey 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: Elmbridge, Epsom And Ewell, Guildford, Mole Valley, Reigate And Banstead, Runnymede, Spelthorne, Surrey Heath, Tandridge, Waverley, Woking (local authority boundaries). Minimum sample 30. 6 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 Surrey: common questions
How much development lending is there in Surrey?
Development lenders registered 214 new charges in Surrey in the 12 months to September 2026 (-10.8% on the year before), taken by 132 companies. It counts loans taken, not their value.
How old are development loans in Surrey?
62.5% of the 1,092 development charges live in Surrey 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 South East
Completing a scheme in Surrey?
Send us the scheme, the current facility and the sales position and we will give a view on the exit options and indicative terms.