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
- 496 commercial property sales worth £449.9m were registered in Greater Manchester for completions between January and August 2026, at a median price of £260,000. Source: HM Land Registry Price Paid Data (property type Other).
- Commercial property charges registered at Companies House in Greater Manchester were up 0.3% in H1 2026 against H1 2025 (394 vs 393). Source: Companies House charges register.
- Bridging and short-term lenders were the most active classified lender group in Greater Manchester, behind 31.2% of commercial property charges in Jan to Sep 2026. Source: Companies House charges register, CMB lender classification.
- 690 commercial property planning applications were submitted in Greater Manchester between January and September 2026, with 84.9% of decided applications granted. Source: Local planning authority records via Landstack.
- The median commercial sale price in Greater Manchester was 16.7% below the England and Wales median of £312,250. Source: HM Land Registry Price Paid Data.
- Greater Manchester ranked 26 of 44 counties for H1 2026 growth in commercial property charges. Source: Companies House charges register.
Commercial property lending in Greater Manchester
Lenders registered 544 commercial property charges in Greater Manchester between January and September 2026. The first half of the year is fully filed, and H1 2026 volumes were up 0.3% on H1 2025 (394 against 393). 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.
Bridging and short-term lenders accounted for 31.2% of these charges and specialist and challenger banks for 25.2%. We could match 77.6% 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 Greater Manchester from January to August 2026 were Together (81 charges), Charles Street (39) and NatWest (29). We compare January to August with the same months of 2025 because September 2026 filings are still arriving.
9.6% 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 6,847 charges in Greater Manchester 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 | 81 | 87 | -6.9% |
| Charles Street | 39 | 35 | +11.4% |
| NatWest | 29 | 28 | +3.6% |
| Shawbrook Bank | 23 | 19 | +21.1% |
| Barclays | 22 | 12 | +83.3% |
| Handelsbanken | 22 | 5 | n/a |
| Aldermore Bank | 21 | 27 | -22.2% |
| Lloyds | 13 | 11 | +18.2% |
| InterBay Funding | 13 | 26 | -50.0% |
| The Mortgage Works | 8 | 8 | 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 Greater Manchester
HM Land Registry has registered 496 commercial property sales in Greater Manchester with completion dates between January and August 2026, worth £449.9m in total. The median sale price was £260,000, with the middle half of deals between £146,875 and £500,000. 51 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 £215,000 across 1,641 fully registered sales.
Where the registered address identifies the use, industrial and warehouse made up 38 sales, farms and rural made up 15 sales, offices made up 8 sales. Most commercial titles carry only a street address, so the larger share of sales is unclassified.
61.3% of the sales were freehold.
Median sale price by quarter
| Quarter | Sales registered | Median price | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Q1 2026 | 266 | £250,000 | £292.3m |
| Q2 2026 | 180 | £254,837 | £132.0m |
| Q3 2026 | 50 | £305,000 | £25.5m |
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 Greater Manchester
690 commercial property planning applications were submitted in Greater Manchester between January and September 2026. Councils decided 664 with a granted or refused outcome in the period and granted 84.9% of them.
Quarterly submissions moved from 263 in Q3 2025 to 169 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 retail and food (146), industrial and logistics (129), offices (100).
A further 466 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
- Bolton · 00978/26EXTERNAL ALTERATIONS TO EXISTING INDUSTRIAL BUILDING INCLUDING REPLACEMENT FENESTRATION CLADDING AND INSTALLATION OF ROOF MOUNTED SOLAR PANELS TOGETHER WITH THE FORMATION OF OFFICE SPACE AND DEMOLITION OF ANCILLARY INDUSGranted 29 September 2026
- Salford · PA/2026/1039Change of use of Unit 2 from Use Class B8 (storage and distribution) to Use Class B2 (general industrial).Granted 25 September 2026
- Bolton · 20407/25CHANGE OF USE FROM AGRICULTURAL BUILDINGS TO CLASS E, B2 AND B8 TOGETHER WITH NEW ACCESS ROADGranted 23 September 2026
- Oldham · FUL/356551/26Change of use from a drive-thru Coffee Shop (Use Class E) to a drive-thru restaurant and takeaway (flexible Class E/Sui Generis).Granted 22 September 2026
- Oldham · FUL/356595/26Permission is sought for the permanent retention of the 2-storey Modular Data Centre as approved under application FUL/350969/23.Granted 21 September 2026
- Rochdale · PL/2026/0183Erection of a new industrial building, subdivided into five separate units (Use Class E(g)(iii) with associated car parking, landscaping and bin storage areaGranted 18 September 2026
How Greater Manchester compares with England and Wales
The median commercial sale price in Greater Manchester of £260,000 was 16.7% below the England and Wales median of £312,250.
H1 2026 lending lagged the national market: +0.3% here against +1.8% for all commercial property charges in England and Wales.
The planning approval rate of 84.9% compares with 86.9% for commercial applications nationally.
Cities in this county
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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.