In the latest settled year of Land Registry data, Bexley recorded 40 new-build sales, down from 89 the year before. That is a 55.1% fall, against a 6.1% fall across England and Wales. At the same time, development lenders took on more Bexley schemes, not fewer. For a developer who will need to refinance a finished scheme or hold unsold units, that combination shapes the conversation with any exit lender.
We have been through the Companies House, Land Registry and planning figures for the London Borough of Bexley for the first half of 2026. The full breakdown, with charts and the national comparison, sits in the Bexley development exit figures report.
40 new-build sales in a year
Land Registry registers new-build plot sales late, sometimes up to a year after completion, so we read new-build activity over the settled window of 1 August 2024 to 31 July 2025. In that year Bexley recorded 40 new-build sales out of 3,039 in total, a new-build share of 1.3%. The national share over the same window was 8.3%. The year before, Bexley's share was 3.6%, from 89 new-build sales.
35 of the 40 were flats. New-build flats sold at a median of £350,000, against £260,000 for existing flats, a premium of 34.6%. A year earlier the new-build flat median was £379,050 and the premium was 45.8%. So the premium is still there, but it narrowed, and it now rests on a small number of sales.
The wider market has not stalled. Across all sales, Bexley recorded 2,855 transactions in the 12 months to January 2026, up 3.0% on the year before. The weakness is specific to new-build stock.
Exit-type lending more than halved
Companies House records lenders' charges. A charge is a security document registered against a company or its property, so what we count is the number of loans secured, not how much was lent.
Bridging lenders and specialist banks registered 11 charges against Bexley development and construction companies in the 12 months to June 2026. The year before, the figure was 23. That is a fall of 52.2%, while the same measure rose 3.4% nationally. Eight companies took those 11 charges: 7 from specialist banks and 4 from bridging lenders. In the first half of 2026 there were 8 such charges, against 14 in the first half of 2025.
The numbers are small, so a handful of cases can move them. Even so, fewer exit-type loans suggests fewer local schemes reaching the refinance stage, or developers using other routes out.
Development lending went the other way
Lenders registered 52 development charges in Bexley in the 12 months to June 2026, up 44.4% from 36. The national rise was 11.7%. They were taken by 31 borrowers. The first half of 2026 alone brought 28 new development charges from 16 borrowers, against 15 in the first half of 2025.
Those loans will need an exit in due course. Development facilities are commonly written for around 18 to 24 months, which puts the 2026 cohort's repayment dates in 2027 and 2028.
Repayments are picking up, and the book is younger
On the repayment side, 22 Bexley development charges were filed as satisfied in the year to June 2026, up from 10. That gives 0.42 repayments for every new charge, compared with 0.28 the year before and 0.40 nationally. Repayments are often filed at Companies House weeks or months after the loan is cleared, so the most recent figures are provisional and are likely to rise.
At 30 June 2026 there were 175 live development charges in the borough. 54.9% had been registered more than 24 months earlier and 63.4% more than 18 months earlier. The national figures were 60.6% and 69.1%. Bexley's book is younger than the country's, which means fewer local schemes are pressed against an expiring facility right now.
Who lends against Bexley property
Across all property-secured charges we could match to a lender type, specialist lenders accounted for 90.2% in the year to June 2026, against 88.4% nationally. Specialist banks held 57.5% and bridging lenders 32.6%. The bridging share was 24.9% the year before and 27.5% nationally, so bridging has grown across Bexley property as a whole even as its charges against development companies fell. High-street banks held 9.8%.
A planning list made of small schemes
Over its rolling window from 20 September 2025 to 20 September 2026, the London Borough of Bexley approved 467 residential applications, with 174 pending. The biggest groups were other relevant residential works (206), demolition and rebuild (107) and conversions (96). Only 16 approvals were classed as new build.
Units were stated on 66 of the approvals, totalling 143. The largest approved schemes in the data were 10 units at Heron Works, 23 Heron Hill, Belvedere and 8 units at Wilkinson House, Powys Close, Bexleyheath, both through prior approval, followed by 7 units at 19 and 21 Langdale Crescent, Bexleyheath. This is a borough of small schemes, which matters for exit: a lender looking at a six or eight unit block will rely heavily on local comparables.
New company formation eased. 341 development and property companies were registered in Bexley in the year to June 2026, down 9.5%, although the number registered specifically as developers rose from 129 to 145.
Preparing an exit in Bexley
- Gather your own comparables early. With only 40 settled new-build sales in the borough, lenders will look closely at resale evidence and nearby existing stock.
- Price the flats realistically. The new-build flat premium narrowed from 45.8% to 34.6% in a year.
- Consider a sales-period facility before the development loan expires. We arrange bridging finance for completed or near-complete schemes that need time to sell or let.
- Start early. The Bexley book is younger than average today, but 52 new development charges in a year means more schemes will reach their exit dates together.
Every case we place is assessed on its own merits. Terms depend on the scheme, the sales evidence behind it and the developer's track record, and no facility is guaranteed. We are a broker, not a lender. Development exit finance for companies is unregulated lending.
Data: Companies House charge register and company data, HM Land Registry Price Paid Data and London Borough of Bexley planning records, analysed by Construction Capital. Lenders are grouped by category and never named. Charge counts reflect loans secured and repaid, not loan values, and recent repayment figures are provisional.