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Bridging loan calculator

What a bridge puts in your account, and what it costs if the exit slips

Bridging is quoted per month, which makes it sound cheap, and the interest is usually retained, which means it comes out of the advance before you see any of it. Somebody asking for a £200,000 bridge at 0.81 per cent does not receive £200,000 and does not pay 0.81 per cent of anything. Both of those facts belong on the same screen as the headline rate, and so does the cost of the exit being late.

For: An auction, a chain break, a short completion or a refurbishment

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The facility
£
£
The valuer's figure, not yours, and on a bridge it is often a 90 or 180 day value rather than an open market one, which is lower.
What is being charged
The cheapest security and the highest advance. A house, a flat or a portfolio of them.
%
The measured market average was 0.81% in Q2 2026. Below 0.65% is prime: clean credit, low loan to value and an obvious exit. Adverse credit or a second charge runs to 1.5%.
mo
Twelve months is the market average. Regulated bridging, against a home you live in, is capped at twelve.
Is it against a home you live in?
An investment property, a company purchase or a site. Twelve to thirty six months, and you may service the interest monthly if you would rather protect the advance.
How the interest is handled
The lender holds every month of interest back from the advance. You borrow more to receive the same, and you pay interest on the interest.
Fees
Defaults are typical. Put the figures from your offer letter in.
%
Two per cent is close to universal, and it is charged on the gross loan rather than on what you receive.
%
Uncommon on residential bridging and normal on development finance. Check whether it is charged on the loan or on the end value, because those are very different numbers.
£
An automated valuation is free and can complete in days, but it is only offered on clean, low loan to value residential. Anything unusual gets a physical inspection and a bill.
£
You pay both sides. Where one firm is allowed to act for both, which is called dual representation, it roughly halves this and saves a week.
£
£145 to £900 depending on the lender. Worth asking about before you apply, because nobody volunteers it.
£
Many brokers take the lender's commission instead and charge you nothing.
If the exit is late£4,860
The exit is the only thing a bridging lender is really underwriting, and an overrun is the risk that actually materialises.
mo
Extension fees run to 1% or more of the balance on top of the interest, and a lender under no obligation to extend can charge a default rate of two or three per cent a month instead.
What actually reaches your account£174,060Out of a £200,000 facility, once £6,500 of fees and £19,440 of retained interest come off the top. To actually receive £200,000 you would have to ask for about £229,384.
£25,940Total cost of the credit
10.2%As an annual rate
62.5%Loan to value
£1,620Each month of overrun
Reaches you87%Retained interest10%Arrangement fee2%Valuation, legals, admin1%
What it costs
Interest over the term£19,440
0.81% a month for 12 months. Residential goes to 75% of value, the highest of any security.
Fees£6,500
Arrangement £4,000, valuation £700, legals £1,500, admin £300. Almost always deducted on completion rather than invoiced.
Total cost of the credit£25,940
13.0% of the loan over 12 months. The headline rate never sounds like that.
The same rate, annualised10.2%
Compounded, the way an APR is quoted, so it can be read against a mortgage.
What it does to the deal
Loan to value62.5%
Residential lends to 75%. Below 60% you are in prime pricing territory and the rate on this page should come down.
Every extra month£1,620
Before any extension fee. This is the number that decides whether a bridge was clever or expensive.
3 months late would cost£4,860
Plus an extension fee of around £2,000 at one per cent, and a lender under no obligation to grant one. Build the overrun into the exit plan rather than into the hope.
Working backwards
To actually receive £200,000£229,384
This is the direction that matters when the money has to cover a purchase price. Ask for the net and you will be short by the fees and the retained interest.
Realistic time to completion46 days
The measured market average, not the few days often advertised. An automated valuation and dual representation can get a clean residential case to ten working days; nothing else will.
Where these figures come from

Rates. Bridging Trends measured the market average at 0.81% a month in Q2 2026, down from 0.82% in Q1, on an average twelve month term. Strong borrowers on clean first-charge security at 65% loan to value or below reach 0.55% to 0.65%. Typical cases at 70% with mixed credit price at 0.75% to 1.0%, and second charges or adverse credit at 1.0% to 1.5%.

Fees. Arrangement fee 2% of the gross loan. Valuation from nothing on a free automated valuation up to £1,500 or more on unusual security. Legal work £850 to £2,000 depending on whether one firm can act for both sides. Administration £145 to £900. All typically deducted on completion.

Timing. Average completion is 46 days. Regulated demand rose from 41% of the market in Q1 2026 to 48% in Q2.

Ceilings. Residential lends to 75% of value, semi-commercial and commercial to 70%, and land to 50%, with the price rising in the same order.

Market averages as at Q2 2026, and every figure adjustable. On regulated bridging, against a home you live in, every major lender requires retained interest, so paying monthly to protect the advance is not usually an option and the term is capped at twelve months. The valuation on a bridge is frequently a 90 or 180 day figure rather than an open market one, which is lower and therefore reduces what the same property will borrow. An overrun is the real risk: extension fees run to one per cent or more of the balance, a default rate can be two or three per cent a month, and the lender is under no obligation to extend at all. Bridging is arranged through a regulated broker or lender. An estimate, not advice.

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