How much can you borrow with a bridging loan — and what deposit do you need?

The honest answer: it's the property that decides, not your salary. Most unregulated bridging lenders will go to around 75% of a residential property's value, 65–70% on commercial. So on a £400,000 house the ceiling is roughly £300,000 gross — and remember that fees and rolled-up interest come out of that figure before you see a penny. Income barely enters the conversation, because there are no monthly payments to afford.

Gross, net and the deposit question

Say the lender offers 75% gross on that £400,000 purchase. £300,000 sounds like a 25% deposit job. It isn't, quite. Take off a 2% arrangement fee and twelve months of rolled interest at around 0.9% a month and the day-one net advance is nearer £262,000 — so the cash you actually bring is closer to £140,000 once you add legals, valuation and stamp duty. Nobody enjoys hearing that. It's still better to hear it now than at the solicitor's, and it's the first calculation we run on every deal.

Ways to bring less cash

Additional security changes everything. Offer a second property with decent equity alongside the one you're buying and lenders will consider funding up to 100% of the purchase price, because their overall exposure across both assets still sits inside their loan-to-value rules. This is the standard route for experienced investors who'd rather not liquidate anything mid-deal. Some lenders will also work from the open-market valuation rather than the price you're paying; where those two figures genuinely differ, your cash requirement can shift.

What moves the ceiling down

Heavier works, thin demand for the asset type, a short lease, a flat above a takeaway, land, anything with planning risk — each pushes the maximum loan-to-value lower. Commercial and land deals routinely cap at 60–65%. A strong exit and a clean title push the other way. The number on a lender's rate card is the best case; the number an underwriter writes on your deal is the real one.