A bridging loan is priced by the month, not the year, which is what makes it look expensive beside a mortgage. That comparison is the wrong one. What matters is the total you pay across the weeks you actually hold the loan, and whether the thing the speed buys you is worth more than that total.
How much does a bridging loan cost?
Interest is charged monthly and the fees sit on top of it, so the monthly rate on its own tells you very little. A bridge has as many as six separate costs: monthly interest, the lender's arrangement fee, valuation, legal work, a broker fee on many deals, and sometimes an exit fee.
Across the market, the average monthly interest rate was 0.81% in Q2 2026, according to Bridging Trends, Q2 2026, as reported by IFA Magazine (checked October 2026). What you're offered depends on your circumstances — the security, the loan-to-value, the term and how solid the exit looks.
The lender's arrangement fee is typically around 1% of the loan (indicative, from lenders on our panel, checked October 2026), and what you're offered depends on your circumstances. That is the lender's fee, charged on the facility; our own fee is separate and set out further down.
Interest is often "rolled up", meaning it is added to the balance each month rather than paid as you go. That keeps the monthly outgoing at nothing while the bridge runs, and it means the debt grows for each month the loan stays outstanding.
What are the other costs on top of the interest?
Valuation, legal work and, on many deals, a broker fee. The lender instructs the valuation and you pay for it; a standard residential property sits at the lower end of the scale and a commercial or unusual one costs more.
Legal costs are the other fixed item, and they move with the complexity of the title rather than the size of the loan — both sides' solicitors are involved. We will tell you what both are likely to come to for your case before you commit to anything.
A broker fee applies on many bridging deals, charged either as a proportion of the loan or as a flat figure on smaller loans. Ours is set out below. Some lenders also charge an exit fee when the loan is repaid, and many charge none; if one applies to your case we will tell you what it is before you proceed.
When is a bridging loan worth the cost?
When speed unlocks something an ordinary mortgage cannot reach in time. A below-market purchase, an auction lot, a chain that would otherwise collapse, a lease that is about to run short — in each of those the cost of the bridge is buying timing, and the question is whether the timing is worth more than the cost.
Put plainly: if the gain from moving quickly comfortably exceeds the total cost of the bridge over the weeks you hold it, the arithmetic works. If it is close, it probably does not, because the costs are certain and the gain is not.
Can a bridge meet an auction deadline?
Speak to us before you bid. Many auctions require completion in about 28 days, and across the market the average bridging completion took 46 days in Q2 2026, according to Bridging Trends, Q2 2026, as reported by IFA Magazine (checked October 2026) — longer than many auction windows allow. What you're offered depends on your circumstances, but that gap is exactly why starting before you bid matters, and we would rather say so before you are contractually committed than afterwards.
Starting early is what makes an auction purchase workable. If you talk to us before the auction, the valuation can be instructed and the legal pack reviewed while you are still deciding whether to bid, which is the part that usually moves the timeline. By the time the hammer falls the groundwork is done, rather than beginning. On timing, what we can say is "workable, and starting early still helps" — not a promise that a deadline will be met.
How quickly can a bridge actually complete?
Across the market, the average completion time was 46 days in Q2 2026, according to Bridging Trends, Q2 2026, as reported by IFA Magazine (checked October 2026). What you're offered depends on your circumstances.
That is an average across all kinds of case. A straightforward one — clean title, a valuation that comes back as expected, an exit already agreed — can be quicker. A regulated bridge, secured on somewhere you or a close family member will live, carries additional advice and disclosure requirements and tends to take longer.
Across the market the average term was 12 months and the average loan was 55% of the property's value in Q2 2026, according to Bridging Trends, as reported by IFA Magazine (checked October 2026), and again what you're offered depends on your circumstances.
The two things that move the date are the valuation and the legals, and neither is fully in anyone's control. If you have a hard deadline, say so at the start rather than part way through.
When does a bridging loan get expensive?
When the exit is slow or uncertain. Because interest is often rolled up, a loan that overruns compounds quietly: you begin paying interest on interest, and the balance grows for each month it stays outstanding. If the term slips, the rate can also step up — a default or extension rate is materially higher than the rate the loan started on, and it applies for as long as the loan runs past its term.
A bridge is secured on property. Your home or property may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on a mortgage or any other debt secured on it.
Without a clear, dated repayment route — a sale completing, or a refinance already agreed in principle — the cost can outrun the benefit quickly.
What counts as a real exit?
An exit that has a date and a mechanism, rather than an intention. A sale with a buyer and a solicitor instructed is an exit. A refinance with an agreement in principle from a lender that has seen the case is an exit. "I will sell it" and "I will refinance once the works are done" are plans, and a lender will test them as plans.
The honest test is this: if the exit slipped by three months, could you carry the loan? If the answer is no, the exit is doing more work than it can bear, and the bridge is the wrong instrument rather than the wrong price.
Is a bridging loan cheaper than the alternatives?
Rarely. It is quicker. A further advance or a second-charge mortgage on a property you already own is usually cheaper each month, but takes longer and turns on affordability. Waiting costs nothing in fees and can cost you the opportunity.
So the comparison worth making is not which option is priced keenest, but which one completes in time and what that timing is worth to you. Compare them on the total cost over the weeks you need the money.
Is bridging regulated by the FCA?
It depends on the security and on who will occupy the property. If the loan is secured on a property that you or a close family member live in, or will live in, it's usually regulated bridging. If it's secured on an investment or business property, it's unregulated.
Unregulated bridging loans (for investment or business purposes) are not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. That means the protections and remedies attached to a regulated contract do not come with the loan.
Which one your case falls into turns on the specific building and who will live in it, so ask us rather than assuming from the loan's purpose.
What do you need from me to give an accurate figure?
The property, the loan amount, the term you have in mind, and the exit. With those four we can tell you what the market looks like for your case rather than in general.
It is also worth having the legal pack, the lease if there is one, and any deadline you are working to. A case presented complete tends to move more smoothly than one that arrives in pieces.
What does your advice cost?
Our standard fee is £495, payable when your application is submitted. In some more complex cases, an additional broker fee of up to 1% of the loan may apply. The first conversation is always free, and we always confirm your total fee in writing before any work starts.
We are also paid a procuration fee by the lender if your case completes, and we will tell you what it is before you proceed.
The short version
A bridge is priced monthly and carries as many as six separate costs, so the monthly rate alone understates it.
The cost is worth paying when speed unlocks something a mortgage cannot reach in time, and the gain comfortably exceeds the total.
Auction deadlines of about 28 days are a short window to arrange secured lending in. Speak to us before you bid.
The exit decides the outcome. Without a dated repayment route, rolled-up interest compounds and the cost outruns the benefit.
Unregulated bridging loans (for investment or business purposes) are not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, and which regime applies turns on who will live in the property.
Read next: our bridging finance page, or the bridging calculator to put numbers to your own case.
Lawes Financial Limited (FRN 1046161) is an appointed representative of Andrew Charles Consulting Ltd, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN 304904).