You want to buy your next home but the money is tied up in your current one, which hasn’t sold yet. For that timing gap there’s a specific tool: the bridge mortgage. Used well, it lets you buy without underselling; misunderstood, it can leave you with two payments you can’t afford. This is how it really works.
What a bridge mortgage is
The bank bundles your outstanding mortgage on your current home and the financing for the new one into a single loan, giving you a period—usually between 6 months and 5 years—to sell the first. While you sell, you pay a reduced installment (often with a capital repayment holiday: interest only). When the sale completes, the corresponding portion is repaid and the loan becomes a normal mortgage on the new home.
What the bank will ask of you
The bridge mortgage is a product for creditworthy profiles: income sufficient to cover the combined payment if the sale is delayed, and a comfortable appraisal value across both properties (banks typically finance up to around 80% of the combined value). Bear in mind the lender will also assess how marketable your current home is: location, price and condition matter.
The three possible payments during the bridge period
Depending on the lender, during the bridge period you will pay: a payment with a capital repayment holiday (interest only, the most common), a special reduced payment, or a full standard payment. Always ask what happens if you exhaust the term without selling: some bridge mortgages increase the payment significantly, and that is the scenario you must calculate before signing.
How much it costs
Besides interest (a bit higher than a standard mortgage), consider appraisal fees for both properties, an opening commission if any, and the costs of the subsequent partial repayment. It’s the price of the peace of mind of buying before you’ve sold: it pays off when the new home is a real opportunity and your current property is objectively sellable within the term.
The real risk: overvaluing your current home
90% of problems with bridge mortgages come from the same place: believing your current home is worth more than what the market will pay and exhausting the term insisting on an unrealistic price. The bridge doesn’t give infinite time. Before signing, you need to know the real sale value—not the portal listing price—and a serious sales plan: preparation, photography, exposure and a defensible price from week one. That is the difference between an 8-month bridge and one that turns into an ordeal.
Alternatives if the bridge isn’t suitable
Sell first and agree flexible handover with your buyer (or temporary rental), reserve a new-build —whose long timelines often make the bridge unnecessary, as we explain in our guide to selling to buy new-build— or negotiate longer deposit (arras) periods in the purchase.
At Mayrasa we help with the piece that supports the whole bridge: a real valuation of your property and a sale carried out on schedule. With the real value and a serious timeline, the bridge decision becomes obvious.
