Planning Approval Hotspots: Where Developers Are Building in 2026

Across 7 counties with planning data — East Sussex, Essex, Greater London, Hertfordshire, Norfolk, Nottinghamshire, Surrey — we identified 6,557 relevant planning applications with a combined estimated gross development value (GDV) of £5.5bn and 14,867 residential units in the pipeline.

Of these, 3,050 have been approved and 2,877 are awaiting decision.

Ealing leads with an estimated pipeline GDV of £872.6m across 1,743 units. This signals significant developer confidence in the area and substantial demand for development finance.

The planning pipeline breaks down by development type as follows:

Other Relevant: 3,284 applications, 5,852 units
Prior_approval: 753 applications, 1,063 units
New Build: 408 applications, 5,229 units
Conversion: 567 applications, 790 units
Change of Use: 583 applications, 526 units
Demolition_rebuild: 283 applications, 1,280 units
Hmo: 24 applications, 0 units
Mixed_use: 12 applications, 6 units
Other_residential: 12 applications, 121 units
Heritage: 1 applications, 0 units

Conversion and change-of-use schemes often offer faster routes to completion and may be funded with bridging finance for acquisition followed by development finance for the build.

A strong planning pipeline indicates where lenders are likely to have appetite. Towns with high GDV pipelines typically attract more valuer activity, creating better comparable evidence for loan applications. For developers seeking mezzanine finance to stretch their equity, demonstrable local demand is a key factor in lender appetite.

Submit your planning-approved scheme via our deal room to access competitive development finance terms from 100+ lenders.