Bridging Loan Broker in Sydney: Buy Your Next Home Before You Sell

The lender takes security over your current home and the one you are buying. During the bridging period you owe the peak debt: your existing loan, the price of the new home and the buying costs, less any cash you put in. Once your current home sells, the net proceeds go straight to the lender and the balance becomes your end debt, which runs as an ordinary home loan. Each lender sets its own limits and time frame, so the details differ from bank to bank.

Peak debt is the most you owe while you hold both homes: your current loan plus what you borrow for the new home, stamp duty and costs. End debt is what is left after your current home sells and the net proceeds, after agent fees and other selling costs, are paid off the loan. Lenders care most about whether you can repay the end debt over the long term, so working out a realistic sale price and selling costs comes first.

Closed bridging means your current home has already sold, or you have exchanged contracts, so the lender knows the settlement date and the amount coming in. Open bridging means you have bought but not yet sold, so the end date is unknown. Lenders see open bridging as the higher risk and are usually more careful about the sale price, your buffer and how long they will wait. Fewer lenders offer open bridging, which is where a broker helps.

It depends on the lender. CommBank and Westpac both publish a maximum term of 12 months for their bridging loans (checked November 2026). Other lenders set their own limits, and some are stricter when your home is not yet on the market. If your home has not sold by the end of the term, the lender can ask you to cut the price or sell another way, so plan the sale timeline before you buy.

Usually you keep paying your normal loan, and the bridging part is handled in one of two ways. Some lenders add the interest to the loan balance each month (capitalised interest), so you make no bridging repayments and the interest is paid out of the sale. Others ask for interest-only repayments on the bridging amount. Capitalised interest is easier on cash flow, but it grows the balance the longer the sale takes, so check both options with your broker.

It comes down to two things: the combined value of both homes as the lender sees it, and whether your income can repay the end debt. The lender values both properties, sets an estimate on the sale price of your current home and allows for selling costs and interest during the bridge. Our borrowing power calculator gives a first idea of the end debt you could carry, then Sumit tests it against each lender's bridging policy.

If your home is still unsold near the end of the bridging term, the lender will usually want to talk about the price, the agent and your plan. With capitalised interest, the balance keeps growing each month, which eats into your equity. In the worst case the lender can require the property to be sold. That is why we test a slower sale and a lower price before you sign, and keep a cash buffer in the plan.

The main ones are selling first and renting in between, asking for a longer settlement on the home you are buying, using a deposit bond instead of a cash deposit, or releasing equity from your current home and keeping it for a while. Each one trades cost against risk and convenience. A longer settlement or selling first can avoid bridging altogether, so we compare them with you before we recommend a bridging loan.

Not every lender offers bridging, and those that do have different rules on term, open bridging, how they value your current home and how interest is charged. A bridging loan broker knows which lenders suit your timeline and sets up the end debt as a loan you are happy to keep. RyRo Loan Centre charges $0 broker fees on home loans because the lender pays us when the loan settles.