Moving home when you haven't yet sold your current one raises a practical problem: you need the money from the sale to buy the new place, but the timing of the sale and purchase doesn't always line up. A bridge mortgage is the financial product designed specifically to solve that timing mismatch.
What a bridge mortgage is
It's a mortgage product that lets you finance the purchase of a new home while you haven't yet sold your current one, combining in a single operation the outstanding debt on your current home (if any) with the financing needed for the new one. The goal is to cover the transitional period until the sale of your previous home is completed.
How it works in practice
During the bridge period (while you haven't sold your previous home), the monthly payment is usually lower, generally covering only the interest on the portion tied to the old home, not the principal repayment on both properties at once. Once the sale of the previous home is completed, the proceeds go toward paying off that portion of the debt, and the mortgage converts into an ordinary mortgage on the new home, with its definitive payment.
The conditions if the sale is delayed
Bridge mortgage contracts set a maximum period (typically between 1 and 3 years) to complete the sale of the previous home. If that period is exceeded without a sale, the loan's conditions usually become stricter (increasing the payment due), precisely to encourage completing the sale as soon as possible rather than letting this transitional situation drag on indefinitely.
Advantages of a bridge mortgage
- It lets you buy the new home without waiting to complete the sale of the current one, avoiding being temporarily without a home between one transaction and the other.
- It offers flexible timing to sell under better conditions, without the pressure of an urgent, discounted sale.
Risks to keep in mind
- If the sale of the previous home takes longer than expected, the monthly financial burden can become considerable, since you're temporarily carrying two housing-related debts.
- The amount ultimately obtained from selling the previous home could end up lower than initially estimated, forcing you to take on a larger share of debt than planned on the new home.
Alternatives to consider before a bridge mortgage
Before opting for a bridge mortgage, it's worth considering alternatives such as selling first and renting temporarily while you look for the new home, or negotiating flexible handover timelines with the buyer of your current home and the seller of the new one, to minimize the overlap period between both transactions.
Compare financing scenarios
Our mortgage calculator lets you simulate different payment scenarios based on the amount financed, useful for assessing the impact of temporarily carrying two related mortgage burdens.