Bridge financing in Canada: when your closing dates do not line up
You bought on the 18th and you sell on the 9th. Your down payment is sitting inside a house you still own. A bridge loan covers the days in between, and at today's prime it costs about $32 a day per $180,000.
Prime is 4.45%, so a prime + 2% bridge prices at 6.45% today
Bridge amount = down payment required minus the deposit you already paid
Firm sale? A-lender. Conditional or unsold? We have private options
Six questions. A licensed broker reviews it and comes back with real numbers — not a rate teaser.
Placed with Canada's banks, monolines, credit unions and alternative lenders
TD BankScotiabankRBC Royal BankCIBCBMONational BankMCAPFirst NationalMerix FinancialHome TrustEquitable BankCMLS FinancialRFA MortgageCommunity TrustHaventree BankRadius FinancialB2B BankManulife BankServus Credit UnionMeridian Credit UnionFisgard CapitalCWB OptimumDesjardinsVancityCoast Capital SavingsAlterna SavingsBridgewater BankHomeEquity BankWealth One Bank of CanadaCanadian Western BankTangerineICICI Bank CanadaMarathon Mortgage
Lender names shown for reference. Availability, pricing and guidelines vary by province, property and borrower profile.
Bridge financing is a short-term loan that gives you your down payment on the day you take possession of the new home, before the sale of your old one has closed. It is secured against the departing property, it is interest-only, and it is repaid in full out of the sale proceeds. In Canada it is also called a bridge loan, a bridge mortgage, or interim financing.
The reason you need it is almost always the same. The seller of the home you are buying will not move their closing date, and the buyer of your home will not move theirs, so you own two properties for a week, a month, or a season. Your equity is real, it is just locked in the wrong building on the wrong day.
The cost is smaller than most people expect and the arithmetic is public. Prime is 4.45%. A bridge at prime + 2% prices at 6.45%, prime + 3% at 7.45%, prime + 4% at 8.45%. On $180,000 for 21 days at 6.45%, the interest is $667.97. Add a lender admin fee and you are usually under $1,100 all in.
The situations that send people looking for a bridge loan
Bridge financing is a timing product. If any of these describe your file, it is probably the answer.
You close on the new house before you close on the old one
The most common case by far. A three-week gap is typical, and the entire down payment on the new home is trapped in the equity of the one you are selling. Nothing is wrong with the deal — the calendar just does not cooperate.
Your buyer's conditions have not been waived yet
An A-lender will not bridge against a conditional sale, because the sale might not happen. If your buyer still has a financing or inspection condition on the day your lender needs to commit, the bank route closes and a private route opens.
Your house has not sold at all
You found the right home before you sold yours. No bank will bridge this. A private lender will, secured against the equity in your existing home, and priced for the fact that there is no sale agreement to be repaid from.
You are closing a pre-construction unit and the builder will not move
Builder final closing dates are set by the tarion schedule and the builder's lender, not by you. If your existing home sells four weeks later, the gap has to be funded and the builder will not wait.
You were told to collapse your RRSP or use a credit line
An unsecured line of credit at 11% or a card at 21.99% will cover a down payment gap and cost several times what a bridge does. Collapsing registered savings triggers tax you cannot undo. Neither is a plan; both are what happens when nobody asks.
Your lender said yes to the mortgage and no to the bridge
Some lenders only bridge deals where they also hold the new first mortgage, and some will not bridge at all. That is a policy answer, not a market answer. A standalone bridge from a different lender is often available.
What is bridge financing and how does it work in Canada?
Bridge financing is a short-term, interest-only loan registered against the home you are selling, advanced on the day you close your purchase and repaid automatically out of your sale proceeds. You do not make monthly payments in the usual sense. Interest accrues day by day and is deducted from the sale proceeds when your lawyer closes the sale.
Mechanically, three things happen on possession day. Your new first mortgage funds. The bridge funds the balance of your down payment. Your lawyer completes the purchase. Then, on the sale closing date, the buyer's funds arrive, your existing mortgage is discharged, the bridge and its accrued interest are paid out, and whatever is left is yours.
Because the loan is secured by real equity and repaid from a known source, bridge financing is priced well below unsecured credit. It is not a qualification product — it does not increase how much house you can buy — it is a timing product.
Interest-only, accrued daily, no monthly payment in most cases
Secured against the departing property, not the one you are buying
Repaid in full from the sale proceeds on the sale closing date
Advanced on the purchase closing date, straight to your lawyer's trust account
Typically requires roughly 10% of equity left in the departing home after the bridge is repaid
How much bridge financing can I get? The formula
The amount is not a mystery and it is not based on your income. Bridge amount = the down payment required on the new purchase, minus the deposit you already paid with your offer. That is the whole calculation.
If you are buying at $1,150,000 with 20% down, you need $230,000 on closing day. You already gave $50,000 as a deposit when your offer was accepted, and that money is sitting in the listing brokerage's trust account and will be credited to you at closing. So the bridge is $230,000 minus $50,000, or $180,000.
Lenders will also sanity-check the number against your net sale proceeds. If the bridge is bigger than what the sale will actually deliver after the existing mortgage, the real estate commission, the legal fees and the discharge, it will be cut back. Bring your sale agreement and your current mortgage statement to the first conversation and the number can be confirmed in minutes.
Working the bridge formula on real purchases
Working the bridge formula on real purchases
New purchase
Down payment required
Deposit already paid
Bridge needed
$620,000
$62,000 (10%)
$20,000
$42,000
$850,000
$170,000 (20%)
$30,000
$140,000
$890,000
$178,000 (20%)
$25,000
$153,000
$1,150,000
$230,000 (20%)
$50,000
$180,000
$1,350,000
$270,000 (20%)
$75,000
$195,000
Bridge loans commonly run from about $30,000 to $2,000,000 and beyond. There is no fixed ceiling — the constraint is the equity in the departing property and the strength of the sale agreement behind it.
What does bridge financing cost in 2026? The live arithmetic
Bridge financing in Canada is priced at prime plus 2% to prime plus 4%. The Bank of Canada policy rate has been 2.25% since October 2025 and prime has been 4.45% since October 29, 2025. So today a prime + 2% bridge is 6.45%, prime + 3% is 7.45%, and prime + 4% is 8.45%. Almost nobody publishes that conversion, which is why the cost of a bridge is imagined to be far higher than it is.
Interest accrues daily. At 6.45%, a $180,000 bridge costs $31.81 a day. Hold it 21 days and you have paid $667.97. Hold it 90 days and you have paid $2,862.74. On top of the interest, expect a lender administration or setup fee of $200 to $500, and $200 to $300 in additional legal fees if the lender registers a lien on the departing property — which is common above roughly $200,000 or beyond about 120 days. All in, a short bridge usually lands between $1,000 and $2,000.
One thing to check before you sign: whether the lender charges a minimum interest period. Bank bridges generally do not — you pay for the days you use. Private bridges frequently carry a three-month minimum, which changes the maths completely on a two-week need.
Daily and total interest at prime + 2% (6.45%), August 2026
Daily and total interest at prime + 2% (6.45%), August 2026
Bridge amount
Per day
30 days
60 days
90 days
$100,000
$17.67
$530.14
$1,060.27
$1,590.41
$150,000
$26.51
$795.21
$1,590.41
$2,385.62
$180,000
$31.81
$954.25
$1,908.49
$2,862.74
$200,000
$35.34
$1,060.27
$2,120.55
$3,180.82
$300,000
$53.01
$1,590.41
$3,180.82
$4,771.23
$500,000
$88.36
$2,650.68
$5,301.37
$7,952.05
What the rate spread actually costs you
On a $150,000 bridge held 30 days, the difference between the cheapest and the most expensive end of the normal range is $246.57. At prime + 2% (6.45%) it is $795.21. At prime + 2.5% (6.95%) it is $856.85. At prime + 3% (7.45%) it is $918.49. At prime + 4% (8.45%) it is $1,041.78.
That is worth knowing because it tells you where to spend your attention. On a short bridge, the setup fee and the legal fee often exceed the interest. Chasing half a point of rate on a three-week bridge is the wrong fight; getting the file approved in time is the right one.
Do I need a firm sale to get bridge financing?
For a bank or A-lender bridge, yes. Every major lender requires a firm sale agreement on the departing property — all conditions waived, deposit paid, no outs remaining for the buyer. The lender is lending against a repayment source, and a conditional sale is not a repayment source. This is the point where most bridge applications fail.
If your sale is conditional, or your home has not sold at all, an A-lender bridge is off the table and an alternative or private bridge is the route. A private lender secures against the equity in your existing home rather than against the sale agreement, which is why the pricing is different: typically 8% to 12% interest-only on a first-position bridge, or 10% to 15% in second position, plus a lender fee of 1% to 3% and roughly $1,500 to $2,500 in legal costs. Terms usually run three to twelve months, often with a three-month minimum interest period.
That sounds expensive next to 6.45%, and it is. It is also frequently cheaper than the alternative, which is losing a $50,000 deposit, being sued for a failed closing, or accepting $40,000 less on your sale because you had to take the first offer that came.
Firm sale vs conditional sale vs not sold
Firm sale vs conditional sale vs not sold
Your situation
Lender type
Typical rate
Typical fees
Typical term
Sold firm, conditions waived
Bank / A-lender
Prime + 2% to prime + 3% (6.45%–7.45%)
$200–$500 admin, $200–$300 legal if a lien is registered
Days to 120 days
Sold, conditions not yet waived
Alternative or private
About 8%–11%, interest-only
1%–2% lender fee, $1,500–$2,000 legal
3–6 months, often 3-month minimum
Listed, no offer
Private, secured on equity
About 9%–12% in first position, 10%–15% in second
2%–3% lender fee, $1,800–$2,500 legal
3–12 months
Not listed yet
Private, treated as an equity loan
About 10%–15%
2%–5% fee
6–12 months
Waiving your own financing condition on a purchase because you assume a bridge will be there is the most expensive mistake in this product. Confirm the bridge in writing before the condition date, not after.
How long can you have a bridge loan?
Most bank bridges run to a maximum of about 120 days, and many are used for far less — one to four weeks is the typical real-world case. Some lenders will go to six months, and a small number will write up to a year. Private and alternative bridges are written for three to twelve months as standard.
Length changes the cost structure more than the rate does. Beyond roughly 120 days, or above roughly $200,000, most lenders will register a lien against the departing property rather than relying on a simple assignment of sale proceeds, which adds the $200 to $300 of legal work. It also means a discharge has to be registered later.
If your sale closing slips, tell the bridge lender before the date, not after. Extensions are usually straightforward when the sale is still firm and the buyer is simply late. They are far harder when the lender first hears about it on the day the loan was due.
Which lenders offer bridge financing in Canada?
Most major Canadian lenders offer bridge financing, including BMO, CIBC, RBC, Scotiabank, TD, HSBC, Simplii, Tangerine and Neo. Many monoline and credit union lenders do as well. The catch is that most of them will only bridge a deal where they are also funding the new first mortgage.
That single policy is why people are told bridge financing does not exist for their situation. If your new mortgage is with a lender that does not bridge, or your sale is conditional, the answer from that one lender is no — and it is not the answer from the market. Standalone bridges, alternative-lender bridges and private bridges all exist.
What every bridge lender will ask for is the same short document list, and having it ready is what turns a five-day approval into a two-day one.
The firm sale agreement on your existing home, with all waivers
The purchase agreement on the new home, including the deposit receipt
Your current mortgage statement showing the balance and any penalty
The MLS listing for the departing property
Government photo identification and income verification
Proof of the deposit already paid, and your lawyer's contact details
A void cheque
Bridge financing vs a HELOC vs a private second mortgage
A home equity line of credit is the cheapest way to fund a closing gap, if you already have one in place with room in it. The problem is timing: you cannot arrange a new HELOC on a home that is already sold firm, and lenders will not advance on a property under a live sale agreement. If the line already exists and is undrawn, use it. If it does not, a bridge is faster.
A private second mortgage is the tool when there is no firm sale. It behaves like a bridge, it is registered behind your existing first mortgage, and it is repaid the same way, but it is priced on equity rather than on a sale agreement.
The one option to be careful with is an unsecured line of credit or a credit card. At 11% unsecured or 21.99% on a card, a $180,000 gap held 60 days costs $3,255 or $6,505 respectively, against $1,908 on a 6.45% bridge — and drawing that much unsecured credit days before closing can damage the very approval you are trying to complete.
Cost of covering a $180,000 gap for 60 days
Cost of covering a $180,000 gap for 60 days
Option
Rate
60 days of interest
Setup
Needs a firm sale?
A-lender bridge
6.45% (prime + 2%)
$1,908.49
$200–$500 admin
Yes
Existing HELOC with room
6.45%–7.45%
$1,908.49–$2,204.38
Nil if already in place
No, but must exist before the sale
Private second mortgage
10.99%
$3,251.32
1%–3% fee plus legal
No
Unsecured line of credit
11.00%
$3,254.79
Nil
No
Credit card
21.99%
$6,505.32
Cash advance fees
No
Bridge financing for a pre-construction condo closing
Pre-construction is the hardest bridge case in Canada and almost nothing is written about it. Your builder sets the final closing date, your occupancy period has already been running for months, and the gap between your builder closing and the sale of your existing home is not something either party will move.
The mechanics are the same as any bridge, with one wrinkle: your deposits have already gone to the builder, so the formula uses those deposits as the amount already paid. Buy at $845,000 with 20% down and $84,500 of builder deposits paid, and the bridge is $169,000 minus $84,500, or $84,500.
Budget separately for what the builder charges at final closing. Development levies, education levies, Tarion enrolment, utility meter installations, the builder's legal fee and HST adjustments regularly total $25,000 to $40,000 on a Toronto unit. Check whether your agreement caps the levies — many do, and many buyers never read the clause until the statement of adjustments arrives.
Interim occupancy fees are not bridge financing. They are the builder's charge for living in the unit before final closing, and they are not applied against your purchase price. A bridge covers the final closing, not the occupancy period.
How Lendmax arranges a bridge
Bridge financing is a speed problem more than a credit problem. The file is usually strong, the equity is usually obvious, and the deadline is usually two weeks away. What kills bridges is a lender that will not act, or a discovery on day nine that the sale was never firm.
We work both routes at once. A-lender bridges where there is a firm sale, and alternative or private bridges where there is not, so the file does not have to restart when the first answer comes back no.
We check the sale agreement first, not last — Firm or conditional decides which lenders can even see the file. We read the waivers, the deposit, the buyer's financing condition date and the closing date on day one, and tell you which route you are on before anything else is spent.
AVM valuation on the departing property — An automated valuation model gives us an equity picture in hours rather than waiting a week for an appraisal. On an unsold home, that valuation is what a private bridge is priced against, and knowing it early sets a realistic number.
30+ lenders compared, including the ones that bridge standalone — Most banks only bridge deals where they hold the new first mortgage. We know which lenders write standalone bridges, which alternative lenders take conditional sales, and which private lenders will fund inside a week.
Digital signing and direct contact with both lawyers — Commitment and disclosure are signed electronically, and we work directly with the purchase lawyer and the sale lawyer so the bridge advance, the payout instruction and the discharge all line up on the right days.
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Case scenarios
Four situations, four sets of numbers
Four situations we see every week, with the numbers before and after. Names and figures are illustrative composites built from typical files — your own numbers will differ.
M
Marisa
Oakville, ON
Bought on the 18th, sold on the 9th, needed $180,000 for 21 days
Marisa sold her house firm for $980,000 with an October 9 closing, then bought a $1,150,000 home that the seller insisted close on September 18. That left 21 days where she owned both. Her down payment was 20%, or $230,000, and $50,000 of it was already sitting as a deposit with the listing brokerage.
Before
Cash required on purchase closing day
$230,000
Deposit already paid
$50,000
Cash actually available that day
$50,000
Shortfall
$180,000
Option on the table
Collapse RRSPs or draw a line of credit at 11%
Cost
$3,255 in interest over 60 days, plus the tax hit
After Lendmax
Cash required on purchase closing day
$230,000
Deposit already paid
$50,000
Cash actually available that day
$230,000
Shortfall
$0
Option on the table
21-day A-lender bridge at 6.45%
Cost
$667.97 interest plus a $350 admin fee
Her sale was firm with all conditions waived, so the file went to an A-lender bridge at prime plus 2%. At 6.45% the daily interest on $180,000 is $31.81. Because the amount was under $200,000 and the term under 120 days, the lender took an assignment of sale proceeds rather than registering a lien, so there was no extra legal charge.
$1,017.97 all in for 21 days — $31.81 a day to avoid collapsing her RRSP
T
Trevor
Calgary, AB
His buyer's financing condition had nine days left and the bank said no
Trevor's Calgary home sold for $645,000, but the buyer still had a financing condition with 12 days left to run. His purchase at $890,000 closed in 9 days, before that condition could clear. He needed $178,000 for the down payment, had $25,000 down as a deposit, and was short $153,000. Every A-lender he called declined for the same reason: the sale was not firm.
Before
Sale status
Conditional — buyer's financing condition open
Down payment required
$178,000
Deposit already paid
$25,000
Bridge required
$153,000
A-lender decision
Declined — firm sale required
Cost of funds
Deposit at risk, purchase would fail
After Lendmax
Sale status
Conditional — funded anyway on equity
Down payment required
$178,000
Deposit already paid
$25,000
Bridge required
$153,000 approved
A-lender decision
Private second at 10.99%, 3-month term
Cost of funds
$9,513.68 all in over the 3-month minimum
We placed a private second mortgage behind his existing $322,000 first, secured against the departing home. Combined loan to value came to 73.6% of the $645,000 value, comfortably inside private first and second mortgage tolerances. His buyer waived eight days later and the sale closed five weeks after that, but the lender's three-month minimum interest applied, so the full $4,203.68 of interest was payable alongside the 2% fee, legal and appraisal.
$9,513.68 to keep a $890,000 purchase and a $25,000 deposit alive
W
Wei
North Vancouver, BC
Found the right townhouse before his own home had a single offer
Wei's home had been listed six weeks with no offer at $1,620,000. He then found a $1,350,000 townhouse he was not willing to lose and wrote an unconditional offer closing in four weeks. He needed $270,000 down, had put $75,000 as a deposit, and was $195,000 short with no sale agreement of any kind to point a bank at.
Before
Departing home
Listed 6 weeks, no offer
Existing first mortgage
$610,000
Down payment required
$270,000
Deposit already paid
$75,000
Funding available
$0 — no bank will bridge an unsold home
Combined loan to value
37.7%
After Lendmax
Departing home
Sold 11 weeks later
Existing first mortgage
$610,000
Down payment required
$270,000
Deposit already paid
$75,000
Funding available
$195,000 private second, 9.9% interest-only
Combined loan to value
49.7%
With $1,010,000 of equity in the departing home, this was an equity story rather than a sale story. A private second at 9.9% interest-only carried $1,608.75 a month, and the low combined loan to value of 49.7% is what earned the rate — an unsold-home bridge at higher leverage would have priced several points above that. He held it for the three-month minimum.
$10,926.25 over three months to buy the right home 11 weeks before his sold
A
Amira
Toronto, ON
Builder final closing on November 6, her condo sale closed December 4
Amira had been in interim occupancy in her pre-construction unit since July. The builder set final closing for November 6 and would not move it. Her existing condo sold firm but the buyer's closing was December 4, a 28-day gap. Her $84,500 of builder deposits covered half the 20% down payment on the $845,000 unit, leaving $84,500 to find.
Before
Builder final closing
November 6
Sale closing on existing condo
December 4
Down payment required (20%)
$169,000
Builder deposits already paid
$84,500
Shortfall on final closing day
$84,500
Consequence
Builder default, deposits at risk
After Lendmax
Builder final closing
November 6
Sale closing on existing condo
December 4
Down payment required (20%)
$169,000
Builder deposits already paid
$84,500
Shortfall on final closing day
$0
Consequence
28-day bridge at 6.95%, $16.09 a day
Her sale was firm, so an A-lender bridge was available at prime plus 2.5%. The bridge funded $84,500 on November 6 alongside a $676,000 first mortgage at 4.29% over 25 years, a payment of $3,662.96. Because the lender registered a lien on the departing condo, there was $300 of extra legal work on top of the $400 admin fee. We also flagged the builder's closing adjustments early so she was not surprised by the levies and Tarion enrolment on the statement.
$1,150.51 for 28 days — $16.09 a day to make a builder closing she could not move
Scenarios are illustrative composites for the purpose of showing how a solution is structured. They are not testimonials and do not represent specific clients. Figures assume Canadian semi-annual compounding and are rounded. Your rate, approval and savings depend on your credit, income, property and lender.
The brokerage advantage
Why a brokerage beats a single lender
Access to nationwide lenders
A single bank can only offer you the one product it sells. We are licensed across Canada and place files with dozens of lenders — chartered banks, monolines, credit unions, trust companies, alternative lenders and private capital. When one lender says no, that is the start of the conversation, not the end of it.
Specialized programs most borrowers never see
Stated-income and bank-statement programs for the self-employed, newcomer programs that accept international credit, rental-offset policies that make investment properties work, purchase-plus-improvements, extended amortizations, equity-only lending. These are real programs with real guidelines — they are simply not advertised at a branch counter.
Flexibility on how your file is structured
The same borrower can be an approval or a decline depending on which lender sees the file and how the income, debts and property are presented. We know which lender counts child support as income, which one will use a 30-year amortization, and which one will look past a bruised credit year.
Volume leverage on pricing
Lenders price for the brokerages that send them consistent, well-packaged, low-default business. That leverage is why a broker-sourced rate is frequently better than the posted rate — and why an exception request from us gets answered.
Experience with the file that is not straightforward
Power of sale timelines, tax arrears, CRA liens, separation agreements, business-for-self write-offs, construction draws, private-to-A exit plans. The complicated files are the ones where a broker earns their fee — and the ones we handle every week.
One advocate, start to finish
You are not re-explaining your situation to a new person at every stage. One licensed broker owns your file from the first call through to funding, and stays with you through renewal so the plan actually gets executed.
How it works
Our four-step process
1
Understanding the situation
We start with a real conversation, not a form. What is the payment doing to your month? What is the deadline? What has already been declined and why? Everything after this depends on getting this part right.
2
Finding a solution
Your file is matched against our full lender panel — banks, monolines, credit unions, alternative lenders and private capital — and structured to fit the guideline it will actually be approved under, the first time.
3
Negotiating rates
We do not accept the first number. Volume and lender relationships get your file priced as an exception, not as a walk-in. Then we compare the true cost — rate, penalty, prepayment terms and fees — side by side.
4
Stress-free closing
Documents are signed digitally, conditions are cleared by our team, and your lawyer is briefed before funding day. You get one point of contact from approval to keys, and a plan for what happens next.
Reviews
What clients say after closing
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Call to discuss your file
Every file is different. Fifteen minutes on the phone with a licensed broker will tell you more than an hour of reading. No cost, no obligation, no pressure.
Typically prime plus 2% to prime plus 4%. Prime is 4.45% as of August 2026, so that works out to 6.45% to 8.45% today. Bank bridges cluster at the lower end, prime plus 2% to prime plus 3%. Private and alternative bridges, used when the sale is conditional or the home has not sold, generally run 8% to 15% interest-only depending on position and loan to value.
The amount equals the down payment required on your new purchase minus the deposit you have already paid. Buying at $1,150,000 with 20% down means $230,000 is needed on closing day; if $50,000 went in as a deposit with the offer, the bridge is $180,000. Lenders will also check that figure against your expected net sale proceeds after your existing mortgage, commission and legal costs.
For a bank or A-lender bridge, yes — every major lender requires the sale of the departing property to be firm with all conditions waived. If your buyer's conditions are still open, or your home is listed and unsold, the bank route is closed but an alternative or private bridge secured against your equity is usually still available at a higher rate.
Not from a bank, but yes from a private or alternative lender. Without a sale agreement there is no defined repayment source, so the lender underwrites the equity in your existing home instead. Expect roughly 9% to 15% interest-only, a lender fee of 2% to 5%, and a three to twelve month term. Lower combined loan to value earns a materially better rate.
A lender administration or setup fee of $200 to $500, plus $200 to $300 in additional legal fees if the lender registers a lien on the departing property — usually required above about $200,000 or beyond about 120 days. On a short bank bridge the all-in cost is typically $1,000 to $2,000 including interest. Private bridges add a lender fee of 1% to 3% of the loan and higher legal costs.
Most bank bridges run up to about 120 days, some to six months, and a few to a year. In practice the majority are used for one to four weeks. Private and alternative bridges are typically written for three to twelve months, often with a three-month minimum interest period — which matters if your actual need is two weeks.
BMO, CIBC, RBC, Scotiabank, TD, HSBC, Simplii, Tangerine and Neo all offer bridge financing, along with many credit unions and monoline lenders. The important limitation is that most will only bridge a purchase where they are also funding the new first mortgage. If your mortgage is elsewhere, you need a lender that writes standalone bridges.
If you already have an undrawn home equity line of credit with enough room, that is usually the cheapest option — the money is there and there is nothing to set up. The catch is you cannot arrange a new HELOC on a home that is already under a firm sale agreement, so the choice only exists if the line was in place beforehand. Where it is not, a bridge is faster and does not require you to qualify again.