A bridging loan lets you buy the next house before you've sold the current one — without renting in between, without storage units, without losing the place you actually want. It's a specialist structure though: peak debt, capitalised interest, and end debt all have to line up properly for the maths to work.
A bridging loan lets you buy the next house before you've sold the current one — without renting in between, without storage units, without losing the place you actually want. The catch: most brokers don't run bridging often enough to get it right.
We do. We'll calculate your peak debt, model what happens if your sale takes 30 days vs 90, show you exactly what your end debt will look like, and tell you straight if bridging isn't the right tool for what you're trying to do. The numbers either work or they don't — we'll show you which.
They modelled both a 4-week sale and a 12-week sale before we made the offer. Both still worked. That's the call we needed — not "she'll be right".
Three reasons the timing of your move matters more than ever.
Skip the rental, skip the storage shed, skip the kids changing schools twice. Buy the next place, move directly into it, and sell the old one properly — listed, presented, and on your timeline. Most clients save thousands in interim accommodation and double-moving costs.
Most lenders let you capitalise the interest — meaning you don't make repayments on the bridging portion at all. Interest accrues and is paid out from the sale proceeds when your old place settles. You only service repayments on the end debt afterwards. That's the difference between juggling two mortgages and breathing easy for a few months.
When you've already moved into the new place, you're not negotiating from desperation. You can hold out for the right offer instead of accepting a low one because the contract on your purchase is about to settle. In a Perth market where well-presented homes are selling in 9–11 days at full price (per REIWA), that calm pays for itself.
Most brokers quote you the rosy version — sale settles in 4 weeks at full price. We model that, then model the 12-week sale at 5% under quote. If both still work, we proceed. If only the rosy version stacks up, we tell you bridging isn't the right tool. Plan for the worst case from day one and the best case takes care of itself.
The three numbers that decide whether bridging stacks up.
Peak debt is the highest amount you'll owe during the bridging period — your existing loan + the new property purchase price + buying costs (stamp duty, legals, moving) + capitalised interest. Lenders typically cap this at 80% of the combined value of both properties. We run this number first. If you don't have enough equity to make it work, we'll tell you immediately and look at alternatives.
Standard bridging terms run 6–12 months, with some lenders now offering up to 24 months on stronger profiles. We model what happens if your sale lands at the agent's quoted price in 4 weeks — and what happens if it takes 4 months for 5% under quote. Both scenarios. So you know what you're walking into, not just the rosy version.
When your old place sells, the proceeds clear the existing loan first, then reduce the bridging portion. What's left becomes your end debt — your ongoing home loan on the new property. Repayments switch to principal and interest on a normal schedule. We make sure the end debt sits with a lender whose ongoing rate and policy actually suits your situation, not just one with the cheapest bridging product.
Tell us a few quick details. We'll model your peak debt, capitalised interest, and end debt — plus what happens if your sale takes 30 days vs 90.
What it's worth and what's still owing.
Purchase price and how you'll hold it.
How long it takes — and what you expect to clear.
Indicative — actual rate depends on lender & structure.
Capitalised interest assumed. Most clients let the interest accrue and pay it at sale rather than make repayments during the bridging period — that's what we model here.
End-debt repayment estimated at 5.99% P&I, after sale clears the bridge. Your actual rate depends on circumstances.
Same purchase, same loan, same rate — only the bridging period changes. The longer your existing place takes to sell, the more interest capitalises onto the peak debt. Most Perth properties currently sell in 9–11 days (per REIWA).
Have a quick chat with a Pilbara Finance broker. We'll model your peak debt against the lender's actual policy, stress-test fast and slow sale scenarios, and structure the bridge to give you breathing room.
Estimates only. This calculator does not assess your borrowing capacity and is not a credit offer. Stamp duty uses the WA general schedule (no first-home concession, since bridging assumes you already own a home). Capitalised interest is modelled simply on the principal at the chosen annual rate over the chosen number of days; lenders may compute differently. Bridging rate, LVR cap, and policy varies by lender — figures are based on data current as of 1 April 2026. Pilbara Equities Pty Ltd, CRN 478535, of Mortgage Specialists Pty Ltd, ACL 387025.
Bridging gets misused because the mechanics aren't obvious. They're not complicated either — once someone shows you.
A closed bridging loan is when you've already exchanged contracts on your existing place and have a confirmed settlement date — the lender knows exactly when the bridge ends. Lower risk to the lender, sharper rates, easier approval.
An open bridging loan is when your current property isn't sold yet, just listed (or maybe not even listed). Higher uncertainty, so lenders charge a bit more and look harder at your equity buffer. Most of our Perth clients end up on open bridging because Perth moves so fast that listing-to-sale is genuinely 1–4 weeks — but we'll structure either depending on where you're at when you call.
During the bridging period, you have two choices: pay the interest each month on the peak debt, or capitalise it (let it accrue and add it to the loan balance). Most clients choose to capitalise — it means no extra repayment burden while you're carrying two property exposures.
The trade-off: capitalised interest grows the peak debt, so you pay interest on the interest, and the lender needs you to have enough equity headroom to absorb it. On a $1.6M peak debt at 6.5% over a 60-day bridging period, capitalised interest works out to around $17,000. Worth knowing — not worth panicking about.
Most lenders cap your peak debt (combined existing loan + new purchase + costs + capitalised interest) at 80% of the combined value of both properties — that's the loan-to-value ratio (LVR) ceiling. Some lenders allow above 80%, but you'll trigger Lender's Mortgage Insurance on the peak debt — which can be expensive on a number that big.
Equity is what makes bridging work. The more equity you have in your current home, the more comfortably the maths comes together. We'll calculate your peak LVR before you make an offer on the new place, so you know whether the structure works without surprise call-outs at the last minute.
This is the question everyone has and most brokers fluff. Here's the honest answer: bridging terms are usually 6–12 months. If your sale takes longer than that, the lender can apply for extensions (sometimes granted, sometimes not), or in worst-case scenarios force a sale to clear the bridging facility.
So we plan for the possibility of a slow sale from day one. Conservative pricing on the existing property, equity buffer for capitalised interest beyond the expected window, and a fall-back plan (refinance the peak debt to a long-term loan if needed). In Perth's current market — 9–11 day median time on market (per REIWA) — this rarely becomes a problem. But we structure as if it might.
If you're downsizing, your sale proceeds will likely cover the new purchase entirely — meaning there's no end debt and you walk away mortgage-free or close to it. Lenders treat downsizer bridging differently: less focus on serviceability of the end debt (because there isn't one), more focus on equity in the existing property.
Several lenders on our panel have specific downsizer bridging products with sharper pricing for exactly this scenario. If you're moving from a family home to a unit, townhouse or smaller place — let us know upfront. The structure is leaner.
If your equity is tight, your income is stretched, or your plan relies on selling at the absolute top of the market — bridging is high-risk. We'd rather tell you that on the first call than three months in.
Alternatives we'll genuinely consider: a "subject-to-sale" purchase contract, a deposit bond, topping up your existing loan if there's room, or simply listing first and buying second. Sometimes a 6-week rental between sale and purchase is genuinely cheaper and less stressful than a bridging loan. We'll lay all the options out — bridging is just one of them.
An illustrative Perth upgrade, stress-tested. Shows how peak debt, capitalised interest and end debt come together when the maths is run properly.
Take a typical Perth upgrade. The owners of an inner-suburbs home — owned 11 years, worth around $880,000 with $320,000 still owing — strong equity. Then an off-market opportunity comes up at $1.25M and the agent needs an answer in 48 hours. No time to list and sell first. They want the new house, but they don't want to be guessing on what the existing one will eventually sell for, and they don't want to end up servicing two mortgages indefinitely if the market wobbles.
Run the bridging numbers in two scenarios: a fast 4-week sale at the agent's expected price, and a slow 12-week sale at 5% under quote. Both still work. Structure: peak debt of $1.65M (existing loan + new purchase + stamp duty + legals + moving + a buffer for capitalised interest), placed with a major lender comfortable with bridging at a peak loan-to-value ratio of 77%. Interest capitalised on the bridging portion. New property settles in 5 weeks, existing home is listed a fortnight later, accepts an offer of $895,000 within 11 days of going to market — well inside Perth's median time on market (per REIWA). Total bridging period: 25 days from settlement to sale. Capitalised interest: $7,300, paid out from the sale proceeds. End debt lands at around $782,000 on a 30-year P&I loan with offset. Move once, keep the house, sell the old one without taking a discount under time pressure.
Illustrative scenario only — based on typical Perth bridging structures, REIWA market data, and bridging rates current as at March 2026. Not a specific client transaction.
The questions that come up on every bridging call.
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Send through the property you're looking at, your existing place's rough value and loan balance, and a sense of when you'd want to settle. We'll model peak debt, capitalised interest, and end debt across both a fast-sale and slow-sale scenario — and tell you whether bridging is genuinely the right tool. If a "subject-to-sale" or 6-week rental works out smarter, we'll say so.
"They modelled both a fast sale and a slow sale before we made the offer. Both still worked. We moved once and kept the house we wanted."
The standard home loan — without the standard runaround. Fixed, variable, offset, redraw, lender's choice. We work the panel.
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