Industrial and Warehouse Commercial Mortgages Brighton

Underwriting a Brighton industrial commercial mortgage

Brighton industrial stock is the smallest of any city we cover. The geography (South Downs to the north, sea to the south, dense Regency and Victorian urban grain in between) has limited the city's ability to release B2/B8 floorspace for thirty years, and the existing stock concentrates on two main sites plus a scattering of small workshop units across BN1 and BN2. The market splits two ways. Hollingbury Industrial Estate (BN1) is the principal industrial cluster, north of the centre off the A23 / A27 junction, holding light-industrial, warehouse and trade-counter stock. Patcham Court Farm (BN1) on the outer northern fringe carries smaller workshop and light-industrial units. Beyond these two sites, stock is scattered and individual units are typically too small for institutional investment interest.

Despite the small stock base, lender appetite for the limited stock that exists is strong. Industrial enjoys broad lender competition nationally in mid-2026 because the asset class has performed consistently well through 2022 to 2026, and Brighton stock benefits from genuine structural scarcity. Investment LTVs of 75% are achievable on strong-covenant let assets with five-plus years unexpired; owner-occupier 70 to 75% on businesses with two years' clean accounts and EBITDA cover of 1.3 to 1.5x. Deal sizes are typically smaller than in Reading, Milton Keynes or Cambridge, the broker volume in Brighton industrial sits in the £200K to £1.5M bracket rather than the £2M to £8M bracket common elsewhere.

Worked example: a Hollingbury trade-counter unit, 6,200 sq ft, £1.35M purchase by an existing operator. Owner-occupier route on filed accounts showing EBITDA cover of 1.55x. Placed with Lloyds at 65% LTV, 6.85% pa on a five-year fix, 20-year term. Worked example two: a Patcham Court Farm light-industrial unit let to two SME tenants on five-year FRI leases, £685K valuation, £52K passing rent. Investment route at 70% LTV; Shawbrook took it at 8.0% pa with ICR cover at 145%.

Brokers and borrowers looking at trade-counter format (Toolstation, Howdens, Screwfix, City Plumbing) will find the small Brighton catchment limits how many such operators are present; most of the Sussex trade-counter footprint sits in Worthing, Shoreham or Burgess Hill rather than Brighton itself. For Brighton industrial deals, the realistic comparable evidence pool is correspondingly limited and lenders sometimes pull in Shoreham, Newhaven and Burgess Hill comparables.

Finance structures for Brighton industrial

Investment routes via commercial investment mortgage on ICR; owner-occupier via the EBITDA-cover route; vacant industrial via bridge-to-let. Multi-let estate volume is too small in Brighton to support portfolio refinance as a regular product.

Lender appetite for Brighton industrial

Strong for the limited stock that exists, but deal sizes are typically small. <strong>NatWest</strong>, <strong>Lloyds</strong>, <strong>Barclays</strong> and <strong>Santander</strong> all compete on prime let industrial in Hollingbury or Patcham Court Farm at 7.0 to 7.75% pa, 65 to 70% LTV with strong covenants. Allica Bank, <strong>Shawbrook</strong>, HTB and Cambridge & Counties dominate mid-market and owner-occupier industrial at 7.0 to 8.0% pa. <strong>InterBay Commercial</strong>, Together and Allica Bank take the multi-let and value-add cases at 8.0 to 8.75% pa. Owner-occupier industrial enjoys near-best pricing of any sector, 6.5 to 7.5% pa for SMEs with two years' clean accounts, EBITDA cover 1.3 to 1.5x. The small Brighton catchment means lenders sometimes pull in comparable evidence from Shoreham, Newhaven and Burgess Hill to support valuations; underwriters know the South Coast geography and will look at a Brighton workshop on the same logic they apply elsewhere.