Mezzanine and Junior Debt Monitor: H1 2026

Where a second charge is registered on a title while an unrelated lender's senior charge remains outstanding, someone is layering debt: mezzanine, second-charge or stretch structures. The Monitor counted 779 such third-party junior charges in H1 2026: 359 in 2026-Q1, 420 in 2026-Q2.

Same-group structures are excluded, so a lender registering both a senior and junior charge through its own vehicles does not count. What remains is genuine third-party capital-stack layering, the measurable core of the UK mezzanine market. Companies House records no amounts, so this is an activity count, not a volume estimate; it is also a floor, since junior positions secured by other means (share charges alone, unregistered instruments) are invisible to the register.

This edition of the Monitor is built from every mortgage and charge registered at Companies House, cross-referenced against a curated set of development-active lenders in three tiers: pure-play development lenders, banks and bridging lenders with substantial development arms, and institutional real estate credit. Lender identities are resolved through their funding-line vehicles and security trustees, so lending through numbered SPVs is captured against the economic lender. No individual lender is named or ranked in this publication; concentration is reported only in aggregate.

Charge data runs to 2026-07-31; satisfaction filings to 2026-08-03. Companies House filings record no loan values (a 2013 reform removed the amount-secured field), so activity is measured in charge registrations and distinct borrower counts, never estimated loan books.

Regional attribution uses the postcode of the charged property, extracted from the legal particulars of each charge, not the borrower's registered office. Property postcodes are recoverable for 81% of ecosystem charges; regional figures are shares of that covered set. Coverage is England and Wales. Any cut with fewer than 30 observations is suppressed rather than published.

Full methodology, definitions and revision policy: Monitor methodology. The underlying aggregates are published as open data on the report page.

A market writing roughly 1,250 secured facilities a week across 35 active lenders is a market with genuine competition for good schemes. Pricing and leverage still vary widely between lenders, which is exactly where whole-of-market advice earns its keep.

Construction Capital arranges development finance, bridging and development exit facilities across the lenders behind these numbers. To discuss a scheme, call +44 20 3816 3693 or start with the deal room.