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South East · Q3 2026 data

Business funding in Chatham

Chatham has 5,749 trading companies. 690 of them (12.0%) have secured borrowing registered at Companies House, below the South East at 13.7% and the UK at 14.0%.

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5,749trading companies
12.0%have secured borrowing
267new companies in Q3 2026
2.8%late filing accounts

How Chatham's sectors borrow

The biggest sectors in Chatham, and the share of companies in each with a lender's charge registered against them. Real estate & lettings borrows most against its assets here, at 43%.

Real estate & lettings866 companies
43%
Construction & trades842 companies
6%
Professional services667 companies
3%
Tech, media & telecoms379 companies
2%
Retail378 companies
5%
Business support services378 companies
11%
Healthcare & dental308 companies
3%
Haulage & logistics233 companies
4%

Older businesses borrow more

Lenders like a track record. In Chatham, the share of companies with secured borrowing climbs with age, which is why a young business often starts with asset finance or a smaller unsecured loan.

Under 2 years1,779 companies
6%
2 to 5 years1,159 companies
11%
5 to 10 years1,282 companies
13%
10 to 20 years1,101 companies
12%
Over 20 years428 companies
38%

Who's lending in the South East

The 515 new lender charges we tracked against the South East companies in Q3 2026, by type of lender. Property, bridging & buy-to-let made up the largest share, as most mortgages on company-owned property are registered as charges.

Property, bridging & buy-to-let
55%
Banks
15%
Specialist & alternative lenders
11%
Asset finance
1%
Invoice finance
0%

Funding that fits Chatham businesses

Plain-English guides to the kinds of funding that suit Chatham's biggest sectors.

Elsewhere in the South East

Source: every live company on the Companies House register at 2026-10-01, analysed by DueLead for its Q3 2026 Pulse report on Chatham. "Secured borrowing" means at least one outstanding charge, a lender's security registered at Companies House, so unsecured loans and overdrafts don't show. Trading companies means active limited companies, LLPs and PLCs, excluding dormant companies, financial services firms and public bodies. Sole traders aren't on the register, so they aren't counted.