Development Exit Finance in 2026: How to Get Off Your Build Loan and What It Costs

The scaffold is down, the units are dressed, and the site smells of fresh paint. On paper it is the best moment of the whole project. In practice, it is often the most expensive. Your development loan was priced for build risk, and it does not stop charging that price just because the bricks are laid. If the facility is close to term and the sales have not yet completed, every week that passes is another week of the dearest money you will borrow on the scheme. That gap, between practical completion and the day the last unit sells or the block refinances, is exactly what development exit finance is built to cover.

We are DevExit, an arranger and introducer for this kind of borrowing, and we sit within the wider Construction Capital family of development finance brands. We are not a lender. What we do is understand where a scheme sits, take it to the lenders whose appetite fits, and get you the cleanest route off the build loan. This article is the broad picture for 2026: what the product is, why it costs less than development finance, the full range on offer, how lenders size it, what the fees look like, and which sectors it funds. You can see how we work at devexit.co.uk.

What development exit finance actually is

Development exit finance is a short-term bridge that repays your development finance at practical completion and funds the window while you sell or refinance. That is the whole job. The development lender wants out once the build risk is gone, and often the facility has a hard maturity date that arrives before your sales programme finishes. Development exit finance steps in, clears the outstanding development debt, and buys you a calmer, cheaper period to trade the units out or arrange longer-term borrowing.

Terms are typically short. In 2026 we are seeing them written indicatively over 12 to 18 months, which is usually plenty of runway to complete a sales programme or line up a refinance without the pressure of a development facility breathing down your neck. Because it is secured against a finished or near-finished asset, the lender is underwriting a very different risk to the one they took at ground works. Our detailed walk-through of the entry-level version sits on our development exit bridging page.

Why it prices below development finance

This is the part that surprises first-time developers. Development exit finance costs less than the development loan it replaces, and the reason is simple: the risk has changed. When a development lender funds a build, they are pricing for planning conditions, construction overruns, weather, contractor solvency, and the chance the scheme never gets finished at all. By the time you reach practical completion, all of that is behind you. The lender is now lending against a real, standing, valued asset with a clear repayment route.

Less risk means a lower rate. Development exit finance prices below development finance but above a plain term loan, which makes sense: it is still short-term, still bridging, still a specialist product, but it is a long way safer than funding a hole in the ground. The Bank of England base rate has sat at 3.75 percent since the December 2025 cut, which sets the backdrop, but the price you actually pay is driven far more by the shape of your scheme than by the base rate alone. Monthly interest is normally either rolled up and settled at the end, or retained from the advance at the start, so you are not usually servicing it out of pocket while you sell.

The product set

Development exit finance is not one product. It is a family, and picking the right member matters. The broad set looks like this:

• Development exit bridging. The core product: repay the development loan at completion, fund the sales window.
• Sales period finance. Structured specifically around the sell-down of a completed scheme, giving you time to achieve full value rather than dumping units at a discount.
• Finish and exit finance. For part-complete schemes, where a small amount of works remains and the incumbent lender wants out. This blends a completion tranche with the exit bridge.
• Residual stock finance. When most units have sold but a handful remain, this releases cash against the unsold stock so you are not left with capital trapped in the last few flats.
• Equity release. Pulling profit out of a completed scheme early, against its value, so you can recycle capital into the next site rather than waiting for the last sale.
• Development exit refinance. Where the plan is to hold rather than sell, this moves the scheme onto a longer-term footing.

Most developers we work with need one of these, but plenty of schemes call for a combination as the sales programme progresses. The point is to match the money to where the project actually is, not to force everything through a single facility.

How lenders size it on GDV

Development exit finance is sized against Gross Development Value, the finished worth of the scheme, rather than against build cost. Indicatively, lenders will advance up to 70 to 75 percent of GDV, though where any given deal lands inside that range depends on a handful of levers. The main ones are leverage, meaning how high up the GDV you are asking to borrow; the strength of the GDV itself, which needs to be well evidenced and not wishful; the sales evidence, such as reservations, exchanges, and comparable transactions; the scheme and its location; and the clarity of your exit, whether that is a credible sales run or a refinance already in motion.

A clean, well-documented request with real sales traction prices and sizes better than a thin one every time. We go through the sizing and pricing mechanics in far more depth on our development exit rates resource, but the headline is that the numbers you bring dictate the numbers you get.

What it costs beyond the interest

Interest is only part of the cost. The fee stack on a typical facility includes an arrangement fee, charged as a percentage of the loan and usually added on drawdown; an exit fee where the lender charges one, levied either on the loan amount or on GDV; a RICS valuation, because the lender needs an independent view of the finished asset; legal fees for both sides; and our broker fee for arranging the facility. None of these are unusual and none should be a surprise. We set them out in full before you commit, so the all-in cost is clear rather than drip-fed.

The sectors it funds

Development exit finance works across the board. We arrange it for residential apartment schemes and housing developments, for build to rent and purpose-built student accommodation, for HMOs and mixed-use blocks, for commercial buildings, for permitted development conversions where offices have become flats, and for holiday and residential parks. If the scheme is finished or nearly finished and needs a clean route off its build loan, there is almost always a lender camp with appetite for it.

Who funds it

The money comes from several distinct lender camps, and each has its own appetite. Specialist development lenders often provide exit facilities to keep a client relationship warm through to sale. Bridging lenders treat it as core business, since short-term secured lending is exactly their model. Real estate debt funds bring scale and flexibility, particularly on larger or more complex schemes. And challenger banks compete hard where the asset and the borrower are strong. We stay independent of all of them, which is the point: our job is to read your scheme and take it to the camp most likely to say yes on the best terms, not to sell you one house's product.

Talk to us

If your development facility is maturing and the sales are not yet in, the worst thing you can do is wait and hope. The earlier we see the scheme, the more room we have to arrange the right exit before the incumbent lender's clock runs out. Bring us the valuation, the sales position, and the outstanding balance, and we will tell you honestly what is achievable. Start at devexit.co.uk.

DevExit is an arranger and introducer, not a lender. We are not authorised by the FCA, and the borrowing described here is unregulated commercial lending. All figures, ranges, and terms in this article are indicative and for general information only. They are not an offer of finance and not advice. Actual rates, fees, and loan sizes depend on the scheme, the lender, and your circumstances at the time. Written by Matt Lenzie.