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South East · Q3 2026 data

Business funding in Oxford

Oxford has 8,554 trading companies. 1,013 of them (11.8%) have secured borrowing registered at Companies House, below the South East at 13.7% and the UK at 14.0%.

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8,554trading companies
11.8%have secured borrowing
341new companies in Q3 2026
4.2%late filing accounts

How Oxford's sectors borrow

The biggest sectors in Oxford, 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 42%.

Professional services1,542 companies
6%
Tech, media & telecoms1,020 companies
5%
Real estate & lettings972 companies
42%
Retail548 companies
5%
Construction & trades534 companies
8%
Business support services523 companies
9%
Restaurants, pubs & cafes447 companies
5%
Healthcare & dental417 companies
3%

Older businesses borrow more

Lenders like a track record. In Oxford, 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 years2,249 companies
4%
2 to 5 years1,521 companies
10%
5 to 10 years1,884 companies
13%
10 to 20 years1,872 companies
12%
Over 20 years1,028 companies
30%

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 Oxford businesses

Plain-English guides to the kinds of funding that suit Oxford'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 Oxford. "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.