38
New development charges, 12 months to June 2026 (+90%)
Development exit report · H1 2026
Swansea Development Exit Report, H1 2026
Who is lending to developers in Swansea, 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.
7
Development loans filed as repaid, same 12 months
52.2%
Live development book over 24 months old (60.6% nationally)
151
New-build sales, latest settled 12 months (+4.9%)
Written and reviewed by Matt Lenzie Founder & Principal Broker · 25 years arranging development finance · Reviewed September 2026
In short
In Swansea, new development lending increased 90% to 38 charges, the sharpest change of any signal we track for the city. Meanwhile bridging and specialist lending to development companies increased 90% to 19 charges. 52.2% of live development loans here were over 24 months old at the end of June, 8.4 points below the national share, a direct read on how many schemes are past a normal build term. Planners approved 412 residential schemes in the last year, the next wave of exits.
Scorecard
Swansea at a glance
How each signal moved over the year, measured the same way for every location we report on.
| Signal | Swansea | Change | Basis | Direction |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New development charges | 38 | +90% | 12 months to June 2026 vs the 12 months before | Up |
| Development charges satisfied (exits filed) | 7 | n/a | 12 months to June 2026 vs the 12 months before; recent filings provisional | Not published |
| Exit-type lending to developers | 19 | +90% | bridging, specialist-bank and private-credit charges on development companies | Up |
| Live development book over 24 months old | 52.2% | -8.4 pts | at 30 June 2026, compared with 60.6% across England and Wales | Below national |
| New-build sales registered | 151 | +4.9% | settled 12 months (registration lag allowed for) vs the 12 months before | Flat |
| New developer and property companies | 172 | +7.5% | SIC 41100, 41202, 68100 by registered office; live register only | Up |
Companies House · development lending
Development lending and exits in Swansea
Over the 12 months to 30 June 2026, 20 development companies in Swansea gave security to development lenders, 38 charges in all. The year before it was 20 (+90%).
Repayments ran at 7 over the same 12 months: 0.18 repayments per new loan (England and Wales: 0.4). Lending is outrunning exits.
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.
New development chargesSatisfied (loan repaid)
Companies House charge register, Construction Capital analysis
Companies House · exit-type lending
Bridging and specialist lending to Swansea developers
Bridging lenders, specialist banks and funds took 19 charges over Swansea development companies in the year to June 2026 (+90% on the 10 of the year before).
Most came from specialist and challenger banks (11). Comparing half-years, 9 in H1 2026 against 8 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
Companies House · lender categories
Who is lending in Swansea
Of 527 property charges in Swansea we could match to a lender type, 91.1% sat with specialist lenders (national: 88.4%). A 3 point tilt towards specialist lenders.
Lenders are grouped by category from the Construction Capital lender register and never named.
Specialist and challenger banksBridging lendersHigh-street banksDevelopment lenders, funds and other
Companies House charge register, Construction Capital analysis
Land Registry · sales
How quickly new homes are selling
Swansea recorded 151 new-build sales in the settled 12 months to July 2025, against 144 the year before (+4.9%). New-build made up 4.8% of all sales (8.3% nationally).
The new-build premium 64.3% on houses (£332,747).
Across the whole market, 3,024 homes changed hands in the 12 months to January 2026, up 4.7% 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
Planning · pipeline
The next wave of schemes needing an exit
The approved pipeline in Swansea: 412 residential consents in the latest 12-month window (295 other relevant, 62 change of use, 29 conversion), plus 182 pending.
At least 1,181 homes are consented, counting only the 57 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) | Units | Type | Decided |
|---|---|---|---|
| Field 7700 Bank Farm Horton Swansea Sa3 1ll | 250 | other residential | 2026-05-29 |
| Phase 4 & 5 Hendrefoilan Student Village Sketty Swansea Sa2 7pg | 92 | other residential | 2026-03-12 |
| Field 0005 Bank Farm Horton Swansea Sa3 1ll | 80 | other residential | 2026-05-29 |
| Field 0818 Bank Farm Leisure Horton Swansea Sa3 1ll | 80 | other residential | 2025-10-01 |
| Land Off Lon Masarn Cefn Coed Hospital Cockett Swansea Sa2 0gh | 73 | new build | 2026-04-01 |
Companies House · registrations
New developer companies
Company formation is an early pipeline signal: 172 new property and development companies in Swansea over the latest year, 70 registered as developers (SIC 41100 or 41202).
The first six months of 2026 saw 81 (88 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.
Benchmark
Swansea against England and Wales
| Measure | Swansea | Change | England and Wales | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New development charges, 12 months | 38 | +90% | 9,544 | +11.7% |
| Development charges satisfied, 12 months | 7 | n/a | 3,785 | +21.1% |
| Live development book at 30 June 2026 | 113 | 41,855 | ||
| Share of live book over 24 months old | 52.2% | 60.6% | ||
| Exit-type lending to developers, 12 months | 19 | +90% | 5,241 | +3.4% |
| New-build sales, settled 12 months | 151 | +4.9% | 68,506 | -6.1% |
| New-build share of sales, settled 12 months | 4.8% | 8.3% | ||
| New developer and property companies, 12 months | 172 | +7.5% | 61,275 | +7% |
What it means
What this means for developers exiting in Swansea
3 signals rose in Swansea (new development lending, exit-type lending, new companies) and 0 fell (none).
The local book is younger than the national one, pointing to newer schemes and fewer overruns. Here the exit question is about planning the refinance before completion, not rescuing late schemes.
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 Swansea 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: Swansea (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.
FAQ
Development exit in Swansea: common questions
Is development lending rising in Swansea?
Yes: 38 new development charges in the year to June 2026, +90% on the previous 12 months, according to the Companies House charge register.
How many Swansea schemes are past a normal development term?
Measured by charge age, 52.2% of the live development book in Swansea was older than 24 months at 30 June 2026. The national figure was 60.6%.
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 Wales
Completing a scheme in Swansea?
Send us the scheme, the current facility and the sales position and we will give a view on the exit options and indicative terms.