Bridging Loan Rates UK: Current Rates, Real Costs and What Moves Your Price
Bridging loan rates start from as little as 0.55% a month if you’re borrowing at a low LTV with a clean case behind you. Most deals actually land somewhere between 0.65% and 0.95%, and where you fall in that range comes down to the loan size, the property type, your exit strategy, and how much equity you’re bringing to the table. That monthly figure isn’t the full picture, though. Arrangement fees, exit fees, legal costs and valuation fees all stack on top of it. Take a six-month bridge at 0.72% on £500,000: the interest alone comes to £21,600, and the true cost once everything else is added runs considerably higher.
Below, you’ll find current rates broken down by LTV band, two worked cost examples with the fees included, and a look at exactly what lenders weigh up when they price a deal.
Rates last reviewed 1 November 2026 by Daniel Yorke, Founder, Commercial Finance Network.
Current Bridging Loan Rates UK
Bridging is always priced monthly rather than annually. Here’s how the rates break down by LTV band, as things stand currently.
| LTV | Monthly Rate | Annual Equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| Up to 50% | 0.55% – 0.65% | 6.6% – 7.8% |
| Up to 65% | 0.65% – 0.80% | 7.8% – 9.6% |
| Up to 75% | 0.65% – 0.95% | 7.8% – 11.4% |
| Up to 80% | 0.95% – 1.25% | 11.4% – 15.0% |
| Above 80% | 1.00%+ | 12.0%+ |
We’ve included the annual equivalent for reference, but it isn’t really how lenders price these deals, and it shouldn’t be how you think about the cost either. Bridging is a short-term product by design. What matters is what the facility costs across however many months it actually runs, not what a full year of it would theoretically cost.
Most borrowers end up somewhere between 0.65% and 0.95%, depending on their specific deal.
There are three ways interest can be structured. Rolled-up interest builds up over the term and gets settled in one go, alongside the loan, at the end. Retained interest works differently — it’s taken out of the loan amount upfront, calculated against however long the term is expected to run. Serviced interest, where you pay monthly as you go, is usually only on the table for regulated cases. Picking the right one comes down to your cashflow and when you expect to exit, and it’s a conversation worth having with a broker before you apply anywhere. It also has a knock-on effect on how much you can borrow on a bridging loan, since both rolled-up and retained interest eat into the net amount you receive.
Rolled-Up, Retained and Serviced Interest Side by Side
| Structure | What happens | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Rolled-up | Interest is added over the term and repaid with the loan at the end | Borrowers who cannot make payments during a build or sale |
| Retained | The lender holds back the interest for the whole term, so you receive a smaller advance | Short, fixed terms |
| Serviced | You pay the interest each month | Mostly regulated loans, where income covers it |
Rolled-up and retained interest both cut the amount you receive on day one.
Example Bridging Loan Costs
The monthly rate only tells you part of what you’ll actually pay. These two scenarios show the full picture, fees included.
£250,000 loan – 65% LTV
- 6 months at 0.72%
- Interest (rolled-up): £10,800
- Arrangement fee (2%): £5,000
- Exit fee (1%): £2,500
- Legal and valuation: £2,000
- Total estimated cost: £20,300 – 8.1% of the loan
£500,000 loan – 70% LTV
- 9 months at 0.85%
- Interest (rolled-up): £38,250
- Arrangement fee (2%): £10,000
- Exit fee (1%): £5,000
- Legal and valuation: £3,500
- Total estimated cost: £56,750 – 11.4% of the loan
A couple of things stand out in both examples. The arrangement fee on its own is a sizeable chunk of the total, and it’s calculated on the loan amount rather than the interest. Not every lender charges an exit fee, but enough of them do that you should budget for one from the start. Legal costs vary case to case, though £1,500 is about as low as they tend to go on a straightforward deal.
There’s one variable people rarely plan for: time. Work out the cost at the exit date you’re expecting, then run the same numbers three months later. If it only stacks up in the best-case scenario, the structure of the deal needs another look before you take it to a lender. Use our bridging loan calculator to test your own numbers before speaking to anyone.
What Else You Pay Besides Interest
Interest is one line on the bill. Here is what else we see on most deals, using the figures from the examples above.
| Cost | Usual amount | When it falls due |
|---|---|---|
| Arrangement fee | Between 1% and 2% of the amount borrowed | At completion |
| Exit fee | 0.5% to 1% of the advance, when the lender applies one | When the loan is repaid |
| Legal and valuation | Around £1,500 at the low end; £2,000 to £3,500 in our two examples | Between application and completion |
| Interest | Set by your LTV band in the rate table | Rolled up, retained or paid monthly (see below) |
Not every lender charges an exit fee. Budget for one anyway until you hold a written offer that says otherwise.
What Affects Your Bridging Loan Rate
LTV. This is the single biggest factor in the price. Every extra percentage point of LTV pushes the lender’s risk up, and your cost with it. At 60% you’re a very different proposition than at 80% — more lenders want the business, and that competition sharpens the pricing. Get below 65% and the market’s best rates become available; push past 75% and your options thin out fast. Our page on the maximum LTV available on a UK bridging loan goes into more depth on when 75% is realistically achievable.
Exit Strategy. Nothing beats a confirmed sale with contracts already exchanged — that’s the cleanest exit a lender will see. A refinance with heads of terms in hand isn’t far behind it. An open-ended exit, where there’s an intention but no evidence to back it up, gets priced with that uncertainty baked in. Lenders want proof, not a promise. Our page on how bridging loan exit strategies affect LTV and rate covers how lenders weigh the different options.
Borrower Experience. If it’s your first time bridging, expect to pay more for it. Investors with a track record of completed deals — particularly repeat business with the same lender — tend to get the sharper pricing. Most lenders save their best rates for borrowers they’ve already worked with and trust. None of that means a first bridge is a bad idea, just that it’s worth being realistic about where your rate is likely to sit.
Property Type. Standard residential gets you the cheapest rates and the widest choice of lender. Move into HMOs, semi-commercial, short-term rental, or development sites, and that choice narrows. Commercial bridging generally runs between 0.75% and 2% a month, depending on what the asset is and how complicated the case is.
Loan Size. Lenders compete hard for anything above £1 million. Below £100,000, pricing tends to run proportionally higher. The sweet spot for the sharpest rates sits roughly between £150,000 and £3 million on a straightforward case.
Credit History. Because bridging is asset-led, a CCJ or a missed payment won’t automatically rule you out. It will, however, limit your choice of lender and nudge the rate up. Recent problems carry more weight than older ones — what lenders are really reading is the pattern, not a single event.
Open vs Closed Bridging Loans
A closed bridge comes with a fixed repayment date — either contracts have already exchanged on a sale, or a refinance offer is already in place. The lender knows exactly when they’ll be repaid, and that certainty gets reflected in the price: closed bridges typically come in 0.1% to 0.2% a month cheaper than an equivalent open deal.
An open bridge doesn’t have a fixed date. You’ll agree a maximum term — usually capped at 12 months — without pinning down exactly when you’ll exit. Most purchases, refurbishments and development deals start life as open bridges, as do the majority of auction finance and chain-break cases, many of which switch over to closed once contracts exchange.
If you already have a reasonably clear idea of how you’ll exit, even without a locked-in date, tell your broker before anything goes near a lender. It changes how the case gets presented, and it can move the rate you’re offered.
What a Late Exit Costs
Bridges rarely overrun on purpose, but plenty do. Here is the £500,000 loan at 70% LTV from the second example (0.85% a month, interest rolled up), repaid at month 9 and again at month 12.
| Cost | Repaid at month 9 | Repaid at month 12 |
|---|---|---|
| Interest | £38,250 | £51,000 |
| Arrangement fee (2%) | £10,000 | £10,000 |
| Exit fee (1%) | £5,000 | £5,000 |
| Legal and valuation | £3,500 | £3,500 |
| Total cost | £56,750 (11.4% of the loan) | £69,500 (13.9% of the loan) |
The extra three months add £12,750 of interest. Extension fees and default rates are not in these figures, and some lenders apply both, so a real overrun can cost more. Run your own deal at the planned exit date and again three months later. If it only works on the first date, rework the deal before you apply.
“The monthly rate gets the attention, but the number that decides a bridge is the cost if the exit slips by three months. I run that figure on every case before it goes to a lender.”
Daniel Yorke, Founder, Commercial Finance Network
First Charge vs Second Charge Bridging
With a first charge bridging loan, your lender sits in the primary security position — nobody stands ahead of them if things go wrong. That’s the lowest-risk spot in the queue, and pricing reflects it: first charge is consistently the cheapest bridging product on the market.
A second charge loan sits behind whatever mortgage is already on the property, which puts the bridging lender second in line if something goes wrong. That extra risk adds roughly 0.1% to 0.3% a month compared with an equivalent first charge deal, and the maximum LTV on offer tends to be lower too.
Own the property outright, and first charge bridging is straightforward. If there’s an existing mortgage, your options are a second charge behind it, or refinancing that debt into the bridge as part of the same transaction. A broker who specialises in bridging will tell you which route actually suits your deal before you go anywhere near a lender.
Regulated vs Unregulated Bridging
This is something most borrowers don’t think about until a lender raises it — yet it shapes which products you can even access and which lenders will look at your case.
| Feature | Regulated | Unregulated |
|---|---|---|
| Security | A property you or a close family member live in or plan to live in | Buy-to-let, commercial property, land, HMOs, development sites |
| FCA affordability assessment | Yes | No |
| Typical monthly rate | 0.5% to 0.85% | 0.55% up to 1.5% or more |
| Speed | A little slower | Often five to ten working days on a clean file |
| Share of the market | Smaller | Most UK bridging loans |
A bridging loan is regulated when it’s secured against a property that you, or a close family member, live in or plan to live in. That triggers a full FCA affordability assessment. It slows the process down a little, but it also brings a layer of protection with it. Rates on regulated cases typically sit between 0.5% and 0.85% a month.
Unregulated bridging is everything else — buy-to-let, commercial property, land, HMOs, development sites. There’s no FCA affordability test here; lenders are looking at the asset and the exit rather than your personal income, which is exactly why unregulated cases tend to move faster, often completing in five to ten working days on a clean file. Pricing ranges from 0.55% up to 1.5% or more a month, depending on the deal.
Most UK bridging loans fall into the unregulated category. If you’re not sure which side of the line your case sits on, check with a broker before going near a lender — it shapes both which products you can use and which lenders will even look at the case.
How to Get the Lowest Bridging Loan Rate
Keep LTV under 70%. More equity in the deal means more lenders bidding for it, and competition is what pushes pricing down. If you’re able to put in a bit more to drop into a lower LTV band, it’s almost always worth doing.
Where you can, structure the loan as closed. A confirmed exit — contracts exchanged, or a signed refinance offer — earns noticeably better pricing than leaving the exit open-ended. If you’ve got that evidence, put it in front of the lender.
Work with a whole-of-market broker. Pricing differs lender to lender, and appetite can shift with no warning. A broker with existing lender relationships knows exactly who’s sharp on your specific type of deal right now, and can play lenders off against each other for you — something that rarely happens if you approach them one at a time yourself.
Have your documentation ready before you start. A complete, tidy file submitted from day one moves faster and tells the lender you know what you’re doing. Gaps that only surface once the application is underway cause delays, and sometimes kill deals outright. Title deeds, bank statements, evidence of your exit and proof of ID all need to be in hand before anything is submitted. See our bridging loan requirements for the complete checklist lenders work through.
Don’t pad out the term. Ask for the length you actually need — four months if that’s the real timeline, not twelve just to be safe. A tight, realistic timeline signals you know your deal, and lenders respond to that. Overstating the term reads as uncertainty and tends to push pricing the wrong way.
If you’ve already had an application declined somewhere else, see our page on why bridging loans get declined and how to restructure before you try again.
Getting the Best Bridging Loan Rate
There’s no single fixed number for a bridging rate – what you get reflects how the deal is put together, how your exit is evidenced, and which lender ends up looking at it.
The gap between the best and worst rate quoted on an identical deal can be 0.4% to 0.5% a month, which on a £500,000 loan running nine months adds up to real money. It’s worth taking the time to get right before anything goes near a lender.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the average bridging loan rate in the UK?
Most deals sit between 0.65% and 0.95% a month. Clean, low-LTV cases can be quoted from 0.55%, while high-LTV or more complicated deals run above 1.25%. The monthly figure is only part of the cost, so always ask for the full number once fees are included.
Do bridging loans cost more than a standard mortgage?
Yes, noticeably so once you look at it annualised. A standard mortgage typically runs at 4% to 6% a year, whereas bridging works out at anywhere from 6.6% up past 18% on that basis. What you’re paying for is speed and flexibility rather than long-term affordability, and the comparison only really makes sense if your situation actually calls for a bridge.
Can I get a bridging loan with bad credit?
Often, yes – bridging is priced on the asset rather than your income, so what matters most to a lender is the security and the exit, not a clean credit file. A CCJ or a default won’t rule you out on its own. It will reduce your options and affect the rate, but it isn’t an automatic decline.
What other fees come with a bridging loan beyond the interest?
Expect an arrangement fee of 1% to 2%, an exit fee of 0.5% to 1% (not every lender charges one), plus valuation and legal costs on both sides. Always work out the total cost rather than just looking at the headline monthly rate – on a six-month bridge, the fees alone can match or exceed the interest.
How quickly can a bridging loan complete?
Five to ten working days for a straightforward case, stretching to two or four weeks where things are more complicated. Delays almost always trace back to documentation gaps that only surface once the application’s already underway, so going in with everything prepared cuts that risk right down.
What is the maximum LTV available on a bridging loan?
Most lenders will go to 75-80% against residential security, and a handful of specialists stretch to 85% at rates above 1.25% a month. Getting to 100% is only realistic with additional security cross-charged against another asset.
Is bridging finance FCA regulated?
Only where the loan is secured against a property that you or a family member live in, or intend to. Investment and commercial bridging falls outside FCA regulation entirely, though your broker still has to be FCA-authorised regardless of which category your deal sits in.
Do all bridging lenders charge exit fees?
No – most do, but not all. Some will let you choose between a slightly higher rate with no exit fee, or a lower rate that carries one. It’s worth asking your broker to run both versions so you can compare the real total rather than just the headline figure.
Can expats get UK bridging finance?
Yes. A number of specialist lenders are happy to lend to expats and non-UK residents, provided the security is solid and there’s a clear exit in place. It’s worth using a broker who deals with expat cases regularly, since not every lender is set up to handle them.
What is the total cost of a bridging loan?
Interest is only part of it. Add an arrangement fee of 1% to 2%, an exit fee of 0.5% to 1% where one applies, and legal and valuation costs. Our £250,000 example over six months works out at about 8.1% of the loan, and the £500,000 example over nine months at about 11.4%.
What happens if a bridging loan is not repaid by the end of the term?
Interest carries on building, and some lenders add an extension fee or switch you to a default rate. On the £500,000 example, three more months means £12,750 of extra interest. If your exit is slipping, speak to your broker before the term ends rather than after.
Do regulated and unregulated bridging loans have the same rates?
No. Regulated loans typically run at 0.5% to 0.85% a month and need an FCA affordability assessment. Unregulated loans run from 0.55% up to 1.5% or more a month, and the lender looks at the property and the exit instead.
Speak to a Bridging Loan Specialist
Most of the bridging enquiries we get have already been somewhere else first. Some were declined. Some are stuck partway through an application. A few have terms on the table already but aren’t sure they’re competitive. In every case, they’d have been better off starting with a broker.
Commercial Finance Network is a whole-of-market FCA authorised broker. As a specialist commercial finance broker, we hold direct relationships with bridging lenders across the market, including specialist desks that don’t take enquiries straight from borrowers, and we place cases for clients throughout the UK and further afield. Tell us about your deal and we’ll come back with competitive terms, a complete cost breakdown, and a clear recommendation. A bridging loan is secured against the property it finances – your property may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on a loan secured against it. Lending of this kind, for commercial or business purposes, is not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority in the way a residential mortgage is.
Call us on 03303 112 646 / 01494 622 111 or email info@cfnuk.com to speak to a specialist directly.
Related Pages
- Bridging Loans for Refurbishment – where refurbishment-funded bridging deals go wrong and how to structure around the risk
- Bridging Finance Rejected Due to Title Issues – what to do when a legal or title problem has already caused a decline
- When Bridging Is Used Too Early – how to tell when a bridge is the wrong tool and a cheaper structure fits better
- Auction Finance – whole-of-market auction finance service covering all property types and deal sizes across the UK
- Refurbishment Loans – bridging and short-term finance for light and heavy refurbishment projects
- Commercial Mortgage vs Bridging Finance – weighing up price, timescale and structure between the two products for the same deal
