Corporate Fixed Charge Appointments – Real Estate 

Half yearly update - June 2026

We continue to track corporate appointment levels by volume. economic region and sector. 

The first six-months of 2026 deliver no surprises in maintaining similar activity levels as Q1-2 in 2025. 

The last ten years nevertheless show an inexorable trend. It is too early to call whether that trend will continue for 2026.

So far in 2026 appointment (total) volumes¹ have declined slightly when compared with the same half year period in 2025, but we are not yet back to 2024 levels

¹ appointment refers to the individual charge – it may encompass a single unit, a development, or a portfolio: it is not a measure of individual properties. 

Volumes by economic region remain fundamentally unchanged

At face value, the same unchanged pattern applies to sectors when comparing 2025 in entirety to Q1-2 2026.

However, the consistently high residential figures bear further analysis. In 2026 we see a subtle shift in South East² versus London³ figures. Throughout 2024 and 2025 the volume of South East residential appointments substantially exceeded London. The SE remains the greater, but the gap between the two is reducing, with increasing numbers of London residential appointments and reducing numbers for the SE. 

Hospitality remains at 5-6% but the figures show an increasing emergence of smaller care homes, while the 2025 surge of guest houses/private hotels apparently has now passed. Time will tell if that remains the case. 

Land and development similarly stay at 3-4% although we are seeing now both failed, completed projects as well as ever present part-built schemes, including some disastrous unfinished – dangerous, unprotected, scaffolded – remodelling/refurbishment projects. 

We cannot stress too strongly the need for the monitoring of such projects and early intervention to preserve latent value. The cost of reversing physical project deterioration increases exponentially with delay. 

Our statistics continue to show that clearing bank representation in appointment volumes, at this stage, remains steady at 3.5% (3.0% Q1-2 2025).

² South East includes outer London
³ Inner London

Sentiment

Nara membership sentiment bears witness to a nominal reduction in total appointments, but contrasts that with the notably increase in value of the appointments being made.

In many instances, lenders are calling for strategic reports and retaining members in a monitoring/advisory capacity rather than appointing. This is notably the case for investment portfolios predicated on secure income streams such as industrial and, geographically well-placed, offices. However, this ‘deferred decision’ approach needs to be regularly reviewed, especially in the retail and hospitality sectors which are increasingly income stream vulnerable.

The viability of residential schemes is under increasing focus, with several examples of materially reduced buyer demand for high-rise apartments, necessitating wholesale reassessment of embryonic projects.

Many lenders have experienced the lengthy AI generated complaint. This has now fed through over the last six months to practitioner complaints. Historically few practitioner complaints were received, but growing numbers of AI generated, highly litigious, complaints are now being reported by members.

Via AI, the threshold for borrower access to technical information is now much lower – no longer is there need for professional input. Inevitably, such complaints reflect the nature (almost always selective) of the facts inputted and the questions asked; additionally, AI regularly conflates differing legislation and even jurisdictions.

June 2026