Specialist mezzanine finance for Essex's developers

Development gap funding across the county of Essex

Across the 10 Essex towns we monitor, 1,450 residential units are moving through live planning applications, an estimated £602m of gross development value, with 89 percent of decided relevant applications approved over the last 12 months. Colchester recorded 2,301 sales in the last 12 months, while Brentwood carries the county's strongest pricing at a median of £492,625.

That data is not decoration: it is how we underwrite. A mezzanine loan is a view on whether a scheme will sell at the price its appraisal claims, so we track every live application and recorded sale in the towns above before we price a Essex deal. The same numbers are published openly in our UK development pipeline tracker, where Essex currently ranks number 7 of 48 counties by pipeline value.

Southend-on-Sea is the largest town and Chelmsford the county town, with Colchester and Basildon other major centres. Essex has one of the longest coastlines of any English county, with deep estuaries and major peninsulas.

The product itself works the same in Essex as everywhere we lend: your senior lender keeps first charge and funds the majority of cost, our mezzanine finance takes a second charge over the next slice, and your equity requirement falls, typically from 35 percent of cost to 5 or 10. Terms run 6 to 36 months with pricing indicatively from 12 percent a year, and a complete enquiry gets a term sheet inside 48 hours. Model your own scheme with the leverage calculator.

Essex's development pipeline, measured

Monitored towns only; data refreshed 5 July 2026 from HM Land Registry and local planning authority records.

Where we lend in Essex, England

Brentwood

571 units sit in Brentwood's live planning applications, an estimated £282m of GDV. The median sold price over the last 12 months is £492,625 (up 0.5% year on year), across 924 recorded sales. Schemes here are underwritten against that evidence, not against optimism.

Grays

436 units sit in Grays's live planning applications, an estimated £151m of GDV. The median sold price over the last 12 months is £350,000 (flat 0% year on year), across 1,561 recorded sales. Schemes here are underwritten against that evidence, not against optimism.

Chelmsford

316 units sit in Chelmsford's live planning applications, an estimated £126m of GDV. The median sold price over the last 12 months is £400,000 (up 0.3% year on year), across 2,019 recorded sales. Schemes here are underwritten against that evidence, not against optimism.

Basildon

103 units sit in Basildon's live planning applications, an estimated £36.6m of GDV. The median sold price over the last 12 months is £355,000 (up 1.4% year on year), across 1,990 recorded sales. Schemes here are underwritten against that evidence, not against optimism.

Southend on Sea

24 units sit in Southend on Sea's live planning applications, an estimated £6.4m of GDV. The median sold price over the last 12 months is £333,000 (up 2.5% year on year), across 2,106 recorded sales. Schemes here are underwritten against that evidence, not against optimism.