This edition will be refreshed as late filings arrive. Charges created after 30 June 2026 are still being filed at Companies House, and HM Land Registry registers commercial sales months after completion. Figures for Q3 2026 will rise.
Key findings
- 315 commercial property sales worth £222.3m were registered in Essex for completions between January and August 2026, at a median price of £380,000. Source: HM Land Registry Price Paid Data (property type Other).
- Commercial property charges registered at Companies House in Essex were up 8.7% in H1 2026 against H1 2025 (225 vs 207). Source: Companies House charges register.
- High street banks were the most active classified lender group in Essex, behind 26.5% of commercial property charges in Jan to Sep 2026. Source: Companies House charges register, CMB lender classification.
- 564 commercial property planning applications were submitted in Essex between January and September 2026, with 85.8% of decided applications granted. Source: Local planning authority records via Landstack.
- The median commercial sale price in Essex was 21.7% above the England and Wales median of £312,250. Source: HM Land Registry Price Paid Data.
- Essex ranked 14 of 44 counties for H1 2026 growth in commercial property charges. Source: Companies House charges register.
Commercial property lending in Essex
Lenders registered 321 commercial property charges in Essex between January and September 2026. The first half of the year is fully filed, and H1 2026 volumes were up 8.7% on H1 2025 (225 against 207). Charges created from July onwards are still inside the 21-day Companies House filing window at the time of writing, so Q3 2026 counts are provisional and will rise.
High street banks accounted for 26.5% of these charges and bridging and short-term lenders for 25.2%. We could match 72.6% of charges to a named lender in our classification. The remainder sit with smaller banks, private lenders and family offices.
The most active named lenders in Essex from January to August 2026 were Together (28 charges), Barclays (26) and LendInvest (21). We compare January to August with the same months of 2025 because September 2026 filings are still arriving.
7.5% of the charges sat behind an existing charge on the same title. That is a useful read on how often owners are raising second-charge borrowing against commercial property rather than refinancing the senior loan.
Separately, property investment companies (SIC 68) registered 2,655 charges in Essex over the same period that did not match a commercial sale. That book mixes residential buy-to-let and commercial investment, so we report it alongside rather than inside the commercial figure.
Commercial property charges by quarter
Lighter bar: Q3 2026, provisional while the 21-day filing window closes. Source: Companies House charges register.
Share of charges by lender type, Jan to Sep 2026
Most active named lenders, Jan to Aug
| Lender | 2026 | 2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Together | 28 | 18 | +55.6% |
| Barclays | 26 | 21 | +23.8% |
| LendInvest | 21 | 17 | +23.5% |
| NatWest | 21 | 17 | +23.5% |
| Lloyds | 18 | 17 | +5.9% |
| Shawbrook Bank | 15 | 12 | +25.0% |
| InterBay Funding | 14 | 19 | -26.3% |
| Cambridge & Counties Bank | 6 | 1 | n/a |
| Fortys Capital | 6 | 2 | n/a |
| HSBC | 5 | 4 | n/a |
Charges registered against property, January to August of each year. Named lenders only.
Charges by borrower sector, Jan to Sep 2026
Commercial property sales and prices in Essex
HM Land Registry has registered 315 commercial property sales in Essex with completion dates between January and August 2026, worth £222.3m in total. The median sale price was £380,000, with the middle half of deals between £204,000 and £755,000. 52 sales were at £1m or more.
Commercial registrations run several months behind completions, so these counts will keep rising as the backlog clears. For that reason we do not compare 2026 sales volumes with 2025. Prices are more robust: the median for Jan to Sep 2025 was £380,000 across 995 fully registered sales.
Where the registered address identifies the use, industrial and warehouse made up 29 sales, farms and rural made up 14 sales, retail made up 9 sales. Most commercial titles carry only a street address, so the larger share of sales is unclassified.
84.1% of the sales were freehold.
Median sale price by quarter
| Quarter | Sales registered | Median price | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Q1 2026 | 189 | £373,000 | £139.6m |
| Q2 2026 | 87 | £380,000 | £60.2m |
| Q3 2026 | 39 | £525,000 | £22.4m |
Completions by quarter, as registered so far. Source: HM Land Registry Price Paid Data.
Local authorities with the most commercial sales
Commercial planning pipeline in Essex
564 commercial property planning applications were submitted in Essex between January and September 2026. Councils decided 480 with a granted or refused outcome in the period and granted 85.8% of them.
Quarterly submissions moved from 226 in Q3 2025 to 152 in Q3 2026. Applications are a forward signal for finance: a granted change of use or new unit usually needs a purchase, refinance or bridging loan within 12 months.
By use, the largest groups were industrial and logistics (105), offices (100), retail and food (91).
A further 364 applications sought to convert commercial space to residential use. We exclude these from the commercial pipeline because they remove stock rather than add it.
Applications submitted by quarter
Source: local planning authority records via Landstack.
Applications by commercial use, Jan to Sep 2026
Recent approvals
- Basildon · 25/00794/OUTOutline application with all matters reserved (except access) for the demolition and partial demolition of the existing commercial buildings, construction of 26 no. retirement apartments (Use Class C2), and a 70 no. bedGranted 23 September 2026
- Southend-on-Sea · 26/00898/FULConstruct second floor roof extension to form offices (Class E), erect two and three-storey office buildings (Class E), form covered first-floor walkway link to existing building, create roof terrace, provide cycle storaGranted 23 September 2026
- Braintree · 26/01735/FULProvision of 1No. storage container to provide additional office accommodation.Granted 22 September 2026
- Basildon · 26/00001/FULLChange of use from a vacant unit to a car repair centre (Class B2), installation of flues, canopy and storage tank.Granted 22 September 2026
- Brentwood · 25/01392/FULProposed change of use from a church (Class F1 (f)) and its associated curtilage to a children's day nursery (Class E (f)) to include internal alterations, partial change of use of allocated allotment site to provide a cGranted 21 September 2026
- Tendring · 26/00445/FULPlanning Application - Erection of a retail unit, with associated car park and landscaping.Granted 21 September 2026
How Essex compares with England and Wales
The median commercial sale price in Essex of £380,000 was 21.7% above the England and Wales median of £312,250.
H1 2026 lending outpaced the national market: +8.7% here against +1.8% for all commercial property charges in England and Wales.
The planning approval rate of 85.8% compares with 86.9% for commercial applications nationally.
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Methodology and sources
Sales: HM Land Registry Price Paid Data, property type "Other", which covers non-residential sales in England and Wales. Rows that share a price and date are counted as one multi-title deal. Data registered to 25 August 2026.
Lending: the Companies House charges register (snapshot 1 October 2026). A charge counts as commercial when it is secured on a property postcode and either the borrower operates in a commercial sector (for example hotels, pubs, care, retail, manufacturing or logistics, by SIC code) or the postcode matches a commercial sale in 2025 or 2026. Lenders are grouped using our own classification.
Planning: local planning authority records collated by Landstack, filtered to applications whose description indicates a commercial use. Discharge of conditions, advertisement consents, householder works and conversions to residential are excluded. Records cover 253 councils; where a council's applications are not yet collated, its pipeline is understated.
Geography: regions follow postcode districts. County reports cover the ceremonial county including its unitary authorities. City reports cover the local authority area named on each page. Scotland and Northern Ireland are outside HM Land Registry coverage and are not included.
Commercial mortgages are unregulated lending and fall outside the FCA's regulated mortgage perimeter. We do not hold FCA authorisation because the products we arrange are unregulated. This report is market information, not advice.