Finance for the gap between settlement dates.

Bridging finance covers the gap when timing doesn't line up — a purchase before a sale, a settlement before a valuation or refinance lands, or a site bought before construction debt is ready. We arrange it and structure it around a named exit.

Bridging finance

When the calendar doesn't cooperate.

Most bridging needs come down to one thing: an asset-side event and a funding-side event that will not land on the same date. A purchase settles before your existing property sells. A construction facility is close but not ready, and land settlement will not wait. A refinance is approved in principle but the paperwork will not be done in time. A site is a good buy today, but the takeout debt only makes sense once a permit or a valuation is in hand.

A bridge is short-term debt that closes that gap. It is priced and structured differently from term debt, sized against the asset as it stands rather than a completed project, and repaid by a specific, evidenced exit rather than by ongoing servicing. It is not a way to avoid a hard decision — it buys time to execute one, at a cost that should be weighed against the alternative.

When it fits

The four situations we see most.

Settlement timing

A purchase settlement falls before funds from somewhere else are due to land — an inheritance, a bonus, the sale of another asset, or a facility still in documentation.

Buying before selling

You have found the next property or site and do not want to lose it waiting for your own sale to go unconditional, let alone settle.

Before a valuation or refinance lands

The takeout — a construction facility, a refinance, or a sale — depends on a valuation or approval that has not been instructed or completed yet. For the development-site version of this specifically, see bridging finance before a GRV valuation.

Land banking before construction

A site is secured ahead of a construction facility being ready to draw, often while a permit is finalised or presales are built.

What lenders look at

The exit is the real question.

Because a bridge is short-dated, the exit is what gets underwritten more than the story around it. What a lender typically assesses:

A named, evidenced exit

"Refinance later" is not an exit. A specific sale campaign, a named construction takeout, a settled inheritance or bonus, or a residual stock facility is.

The asset as it stands

Current use, condition, title, and any planning or contractual conditions attached to it — valued on an as-is basis rather than a hypothetical completed-project basis.

How interest is structured

Whether interest is serviced monthly or capitalised and prepaid for the term, and what that does to the numbers if the exit slips.

Leverage against the as-is value

Lenders commonly size a bridge conservatively against current value, tighter than they would against a completed project — market practice, tested case by case.

Borrower conduct and capacity

Completed transaction history, existing facility conduct, and capacity to service if the exit is delayed.

A fallback

What happens if the primary exit does not eventuate on schedule — a second exit, or genuine capacity to extend.

What it costs

Model the real cost before you commit.

Short-term facilities are structured differently from a home loan or term debt, and the headline rate rarely tells the full story — establishment fees, line fees, prepaid or capitalised interest, valuation and legal costs, and exit or discharge fees all affect the real cost.

We do not publish rates or fees here: they are lender- and deal-specific, and every bridge is priced on the security, the term and the exit. Before you compare options, run the numbers through the bridging true-cost calculator, which converts any quote into a single effective cost so you are comparing like with like.

Each engagement we arrange is scoped and the fee confirmed with you in writing before work starts.

Where it goes wrong

What turns a bridge into a problem.

The exit is soft — "sell it" is not a plan without a campaign, an agent and realistic pricing evidence.

The term is sized to hope, not to the realistic timeline for the exit event.

Nobody models what happens if the exit slips a month, or three.

The bridge is treated as cheap money rather than a priced tool for a specific window.

Security or consent issues surface late — an existing mortgagee's consent, a caveat, or a title issue that should have been checked in week one.

The takeout facility is assumed rather than actually in progress before the bridge is drawn.

Track record

A bridge that beat the clock.

An individual past transaction, included to show how the assessment was handled. Not an offer, benchmark, or an indication of what any other transaction may achieve.

Bridging

Moama, NSW

An $800,000 six-month bridging facility on an approved development site, committed on a fully evidenced package before the GRV valuation supporting it had even been instructed — the valuation followed the decision to engage rather than blocking it.

Read the Moama case study →

GRV valuation

Waiting on a gross realisation valuation?

If your bridge is specifically about a development site waiting on a gross realisation valuation, the detail is in bridging finance before a GRV valuation.

Tools & reading

Read before you bridge.

Bridging True-Cost Calculator

Work out the effective cost of a bridge →

Settlement-Day Playbook

Prepare for settlement day →

Buy before you sell: bridging loan vs two-stage structure

The true cost of bridging finance: effective rate, prepaid interest and disbursements

Exit strategies lenders accept on short-term facilities

Land bank to construction: two-tranche structures and when to bridge

Questions

What borrowers usually ask.

Is this the same as bridging to buy my next home?

Not if the bridge is for your own home. That is regulated consumer credit, arranged by Siare as an authorised credit representative under Connective's Australian Credit Licence 389328 — see home loans. This page covers bridging for development, investment and business-purpose borrowers.

How long can a bridge run for?

Terms are short, generally weeks to under a year, and are set around your specific exit timeline rather than a standard loan term.

Do I need to have exchanged contracts already?

Not necessarily. A bridge can support an unconditional purchase, a settlement extension, or a site secured ahead of a takeout facility — what matters most is how solid the exit is.

What if my exit doesn't happen on time?

That is exactly what a lender tests before settling the facility. A credible fallback — a second exit, or genuine capacity to extend — is usually part of what gets assessed, not an afterthought.

Can I bridge using a second mortgage instead of a first?

Sometimes, where the numbers and the first mortgagee's position allow it. See second mortgages & mezzanine.

Is a bridge more expensive than waiting?

Short-dated facilities are priced and structured differently from term debt. The comparison that matters is the total cost of the bridge against the real consequence of not settling, not against a cheaper facility you cannot access in time. Sometimes that favours walking away, and we will tell you if that's what the numbers say.

Get started

Put your project in front of the right lender.

Siare arranges and structures bridging finance for developers, investors and business borrowers, and takes your deal to the lenders whose policy actually fits the timing you're working with.

Start a conversation How we work with borrowers

General information for business and investment purposes only, and it does not consider your objectives, financial situation or needs. This is not financial, credit, tax, legal or accounting advice, and nothing on this page is an offer of finance. All finance is subject to lender assessment, credit criteria, satisfactory valuation, security and documentation. Case studies describe individual past transactions and are not a guarantee, benchmark or prediction of any future outcome. Bridging finance for a home you will live in is regulated consumer credit too, arranged by Siare as an authorised credit representative under Connective's Australian Credit Licence 389328. Obtain your own independent legal, tax and accounting advice before entering into any transaction.