Large and High Value Bridging Loans

We arrange large and high value bridging facilities from £500,000 to £250 million, secured on residential, commercial, mixed-use, land and part-built development assets across the UK. We do not charge a broker fee on bridging.

Below about £500,000 the bridging market behaves like a rate card. You pick a lender, you meet the criteria, you complete. Above it the market stops working that way. Fewer lenders can write the cheque, single-asset exposure limits start to bite, valuations get argued over rather than accepted, and the difference between a good and a bad outcome is which three lenders you approach and in what order.

What counts as a large bridging loan?

There is no regulatory definition. In practice the UK market treats anything from £500,000 as a large bridging loan, and most lenders who describe themselves as large-loan specialists set their floor between £500,000 and £1 million.

The number matters less than what changes as you go up. Four things shift, and they shift at fairly predictable points.

At around £1 million you leave the part of the market where a lender will write the loan off a desktop valuation and a credit search. Full RICS valuations become standard, the lender wants to understand the exit properly rather than tick a box, and the legal work moves from a standard pack to something closer to a negotiated facility agreement.

At around £5 million single-asset exposure limits start to matter. Plenty of specialist lenders have the appetite but not the balance sheet for a single loan at that level, or they have it but will not concentrate it in one postcode. Private banks become genuinely competitive here rather than theoretically available, and the pricing conversation changes from a rate card to a relationship.

At around £20 million you are usually looking at a club of two or three lenders, or an institutional or family office facility, and the documentation moves closer to a real estate loan than a bridge.

Above £50 million the funding is arranged one deal at a time. There is no published market, no rate card, and the lenders involved are frequently not household names.

What we see most often is borrowers approaching this the wrong way round. They shop the rate first and discover at week four that the lender offering it cannot actually fund the size, or will only do so with a cross-charge over an asset the borrower had earmarked for something else.

What rates apply to large bridging loans?

Bridging is priced monthly, not annually. The single biggest driver of the rate is gearing, not loan size, and at the larger end a low-gearing facility can price below what a small bridge would cost.

Rates and lender criteria are subject to change. Figures correct at time of publication. Always speak to your broker for up-to-date rates and lending criteria on your specific case.

Two points worth understanding before you compare quotes.

The headline rate is not the cost. A facility at 0.55% per month with a 2.5% arrangement fee and a 1% exit fee is more expensive over twelve months than one at 0.68% with a 1% arrangement fee and no exit fee. We have seen borrowers choose the first and lose roughly £30,000 on a £2 million facility because they compared the monthly rate and nothing else.

Rates fall as gearing falls, not as the loan gets smaller. If you can bring the facility below 55% by adding a second property as security, the pricing improvement is usually larger than anything you will negotiate on the headline rate.

Which UK lenders offer large bridging loans?

We do not work from a fixed panel. The lenders below are the ones genuinely active at the larger end of the UK bridging market as at July 2026, grouped by the sort of case they suit.

Specialist bridging lenders

United Trust Bank, Shawbrook, Octane Capital, Octopus Real Estate, MFS, Together, Hampshire Trust Bank, LendInvest, Atelier, Avamore Capital, Glenhawk, CapitalRise and Pluto Finance all write large bridging in the UK. Appetite varies considerably by asset type and by month. Some are strongest on residential investment, some on commercial, some on part-built development security.

Private banks

Investec, Coutts, Brown Shipley, Arbuthnot Latham, Hampden and Co, Weatherbys, C. Hoare and Co, Cater Allen and Handelsbanken all lend short-term against UK property for the right client. The pricing is the sharpest in the market. The trade-off is that they underwrite the person as much as the asset, they generally want lower gearing, and they are slower to a first decision than a specialist lender.

Institutional lenders and family office capital above £50m

At the top of the range, facilities above roughly £30 million are frequently funded by institutional debt funds or family office capital rather than a named high street or specialist brand. These are negotiated one at a time and are not advertised. Terms are driven by the specific asset and the sponsor's track record rather than by any published criteria.

Where a club or syndicate is the right answer

Above about £30 million, a single lender will frequently decline not on credit but on concentration. A club of two or three lenders, each taking a share of the same facility on the same terms, solves that. It adds time, because every participant runs its own credit process, and it adds legal cost. It is the difference between a deal happening and not happening at £50 million and above.

The blunt version: at £5 million and above, the lender who is cheapest this quarter is often not the one who was cheapest last quarter, and there is no published source that tells you which is which. That is most of what a broker is actually for at this size.

What LTV can you get on a large bridging loan?

Gearing depends far more on what the security is than on how much you are borrowing. The table below is what is realistically achievable as at July 2026, by security type and lender type.

Rates and lender criteria are subject to change. Figures correct at time of publication. Always speak to your broker for up-to-date rates and lending criteria on your specific case.

Above 75% you are into a small number of lenders, materially higher pricing, and in most cases a second charge or an additional property brought in as security. It is available. It is rarely the cheapest way to solve the problem.

Cross-security: using multiple properties on one facility

Cross-charging a second or third asset is the single most useful structuring move at this size. If you need £3 million and the target property only supports £2.2 million at the lender's maximum, adding a second property with equity in it brings the blended gearing down, which usually improves both the availability and the rate.

On larger portfolio facilities the same principle runs across ten or twenty assets. The lender takes a charge over the whole schedule, sets a blended LTV covenant, and agrees a release mechanism so individual properties can be sold and the debt reduced as you go. Getting that release mechanism right at heads of terms stage matters more than almost anything else in the document, because it determines whether you can transact during the term or are locked until redemption.

Where cross-security is worth doing, it is worth doing early. Ask your broker to model the blended position before the first lender approach, not after a decline. A case that has already been declined at 78% and comes back at 62% carries a story the underwriter now has to be talked out of.

What can a large bridging loan be used for?

• Buying before you sell. Completing on a new property while the existing one is still on the market, at any value.
• Auction purchases. Twenty-eight day completion, sometimes shorter, where no term lender can move in time.
• Chain breaks. A buyer withdraws and the purchase still has to complete.
• Capital raising against existing property. Releasing equity quickly for a business purpose, a tax liability or another acquisition.
• Refinancing an existing facility that is expiring. Including development facilities at or near practical completion.
• Development exit. Repaying senior development debt at practical completion and buying time to sell the units properly rather than at a discount.
• Refurbishment and conversion. Light and heavy works where the asset is not currently mortgageable.
• Purchasing an unmortgageable asset. No kitchen, no bathroom, short lease, structural issues, or a use class that term lenders will not touch until it is resolved.
• Portfolio restructuring. Releasing a single asset from a cross-collateralised facility.
• Planning gain. Holding a site while a planning application or a Gateway 2 approval runs its course.

How is interest charged on a large bridging loan?

Three mechanisms, and the choice affects both what you receive on day one and what you repay at the end.

Rolled up. Interest accrues and compounds monthly, and is repaid in full at redemption. Nothing to pay during the term. The most expensive of the three, because you pay interest on interest.

Retained. The lender deducts the whole term's interest from the facility at drawdown. You get less on day one but the redemption figure is the gross facility. Slightly cheaper than rolled up because it does not compound. If you redeem early, most lenders refund the unused portion, but check the facility agreement rather than assuming it.

Serviced. You pay the interest monthly from other income. The cheapest of the three and the one that maximises the net advance, but the lender will want to see where the monthly payment comes from, which means affordability evidence.

What does a large bridging loan actually cost?

Below is a full cost build on a typical £2.6 million facility, with every line shown. This is the calculation most rate comparisons leave out.

You can model your own case on our bridging loan calculator, which handles rolled up, retained and serviced interest and returns a month-by-month redemption table.

Who borrows at this level?

Property investors and portfolio holders

Buying at auction, restructuring a portfolio, releasing a single asset from a cross-charged facility, or raising capital against unencumbered stock to fund the next acquisition.

Property developers

Site acquisition ahead of planning, funding a purchase while a development facility is arranged, or exiting a senior development loan at practical completion.

Family offices and high net worth investors

Prime residential purchases where the funds are committed elsewhere, and capital raising against existing holdings without disturbing an investment portfolio.

Corporate borrowers

Funding an acquisition against property assets, releasing capital for a business purpose, or bridging a corporate refinance.

Overseas-resident and overseas-domiciled borrowers

Non-UK residents and UK property held through offshore structures. Workable, and covered in more detail below.

How is a £50 million bridging facility structured?

Senior debt position

Almost always a first charge. Second charge facilities exist at this size but the lender pool is very small and the pricing reflects it.

Interest mechanism

Retained or rolled up in most cases, because a facility of this size rarely has matching income to service it. Where there is rental income from the security, part-servicing is sometimes agreed to reduce the roll-up.

Security package

First charge over the property or portfolio, a debenture over the borrowing entity, a charge over the shares in that entity, and usually personal or corporate guarantees. On offshore structures, add a legal opinion from counsel in the borrower's jurisdiction.

Term and exit

Twelve to twenty-four months is typical, with the exit tested hard at underwriting. At this size the lender will want to see the exit evidenced in documents rather than described in a conversation.

Is a large bridging loan regulated or unregulated?

It depends on the security, not the size.

A bridging loan secured on a property that you or an immediate family member occupies, or intend to occupy, is a regulated loan under the FCA's mortgage rules. Standard maximum term is twelve months.

A bridging loan secured on an investment property, a commercial asset, a development site, or a property held in a company for investment purposes, is unregulated. Terms run to thirty-six months and the lender pool is wider.

There is one exception worth knowing at this size. Where a borrower meets the FCA's high net worth definition, being income of £300,000 or more, or net assets of £3 million or more, the twelve-month cap on regulated bridging can extend to sixty months. On a large regulated bridge, that single point can be the difference between a facility that works and one that does not.

Read more in our guides on regulated versus unregulated bridging and regulated bridging loans.

What exit strategies do lenders accept at this size?

At £500,000 a lender will take a reasonable exit on trust. At £5 million it is the first thing underwriting tests and the most common reason a large case is declined.

The cases we find hardest to place are not the complex ones. They are the ones where the borrower has a good asset, sensible gearing, and an exit they have not evidenced because nobody asked them to before. Get the exit documented before the first lender sees the case.

Borrowing through SPVs, trusts and offshore companies

At this size most large bridging is written to a corporate borrower rather than an individual.

UK limited companies and SPVs

The standard route for unregulated bridging. Lenders will normally take a debenture and a charge over the shares alongside the property charge, plus personal guarantees from the directors.

Trust structures

Workable but narrower. The lender's solicitor will want to see the trust deed, confirmation the trustees have power to borrow and charge, and in most cases independent legal advice for the trustees.

Offshore companies

Two additional requirements: a legal opinion from counsel in the company's jurisdiction, and the Register of Overseas Entities. That second one stops more deals than anything else. An overseas entity that owns UK property cannot grant a legal charge without a valid, in-date Overseas Entity ID. If the annual update statement has lapsed, the charge cannot be registered and the facility cannot complete, however good the deal is.

Check the Overseas Entity ID and its update-statement date before you instruct solicitors, not after. We have had two cases this year where a lapsed update statement was found in week three and cost the borrower a month.

More detail in our guides on the Register of Overseas Entities and property finance, bridging for offshore companies and bridging loans for trusts.

How quickly can a large bridging loan complete?

What actually causes delay at this size is almost never the lender's credit decision. It is title. Unregistered land, missing rights of way, a restrictive covenant nobody has read since 1974, an absent freeholder, or a lease that needs varying. On a large case, ask your solicitor to pull the title the day you decide to proceed, not the day terms are issued.

How does underwriting change as the loan gets bigger?

Four things, in roughly this order.

The valuation becomes a negotiation. Below £1 million the valuer's figure is generally accepted. Above £5 million the lender may instruct a second opinion, and on unusual assets a valuation that comes in 8% under expectations is common enough that you should plan gearing with headroom.

The borrower gets underwritten, not just the asset. Track record, other facilities, contingent liabilities and the wider portfolio all come into scope. A borrower with four other bridges running will be looked at differently from one with none.

Concentration limits appear. A lender may have the appetite and the money and still decline because they already hold three loans in the same town, or because a single loan at that size breaches an internal exposure cap.

The legal work stops being standard. Facility agreements get negotiated. Covenants, information undertakings and default provisions become worth reading properly rather than signing.

Why use a specialist broker for large bridging?

Three reasons that hold up at this size.

Lender selection. There are perhaps fifteen lenders who can genuinely fund a £5 million bridge on a mixed-use asset next month, and the list is different from last quarter. Approaching the wrong three first costs weeks, and a declined case is harder to place afterwards.

Structuring before submission. Bringing gearing down with a second security, choosing the interest mechanism against the cash flow rather than the headline rate, and getting the exit evidenced properly are all decisions made before a lender sees the case. They are worth more than anything negotiated afterwards.

Managing the process. Valuation instruction, legal coordination and keeping four parties moving to a deadline is most of the work on a large bridge, and it is the part that determines whether you complete on time.

We do not charge a broker fee on bridging. The Fox Davidson group, including FD Commercial, has written more than £130m of property lending each year for thirteen years, approaching £2bn arranged.

How we arrange a large bridging facility

1. Initial call. Security, amount, term, exit, borrower structure and timescale. Usually twenty minutes, and enough to tell you whether the case works and roughly what it will cost.
2. Structuring. We model the gearing, test whether a second security improves the position, and decide the interest mechanism against your cash flow.
3. Lender approach. We approach the lenders that fit the case, in the right order, with the case presented properly. Terms usually come back within two to five working days.
4. Terms and valuation. We compare offers on total cost rather than headline rate, and instruct the valuation once you have chosen.
5. Legals. Lender's solicitor and yours run in parallel. We keep both moving and deal with the title issues as they surface.
6. Completion and exit planning. Funds drawn, and the exit refinance or sale process started immediately rather than in month nine.

Large bridging cases we have arranged

Every figure below is a real facility.

• £12m London MUFB, Gateway 2 bridge to development finance, 68% gross LTV over eighteen months, with the development facility pre-agreed behind it
• £5.6m development exit on sixteen units in Reading
• £3.6m buy-before-you-sell bridge in Virginia Water, Surrey, regulated, sub-55% LTV
• £2.7m development exit on a fifteen-unit block in Kent
• £1.75m finish and exit on a stalled scheme near Taunton
• £1.75m regulated bridge cross-charged over two London properties, sub-40% LTV
• £1.6m regulated bridge for a City law firm equity partner, completed in three weeks
• £1.228m regulated bridge across two London properties to fund refurbishment before sale
• £1.2m Thames-side auction purchase, completed in twenty-eight days across two securities

Frequently asked questions

What is the minimum for a large bridging loan?

We arrange bridging facilities from £500,000. Most lenders who describe themselves as large-loan specialists set their own floor between £500,000 and £1 million, and the market generally treats anything from £500,000 as a large bridging loan.

What is the maximum bridging loan available in the UK?

There is no fixed ceiling. We arrange facilities to £250 million. Above roughly £30 million the funding usually comes from a club of lenders, an institutional debt fund or family office capital rather than a single specialist lender.

What interest rate will I pay on a large bridging loan?

Between about 0.35% and 1.5% per month, depending mainly on gearing, security type and exit quality. Private bank facilities at low gearing price from around 0.35%. Prime specialist cases at under 60% LTV run 0.55% to 0.65%. Above 70% to 75% LTV you move into 1.0% and upwards.

Is a bigger bridging loan more expensive?

Usually the opposite. Arrangement fees fall as a percentage as the facility grows, and larger borrowers tend to present at lower gearing with stronger exits, which is what actually drives the rate. A £5 million bridge at 50% LTV will normally price below a £600,000 bridge at 75%.

What LTV can I get on a large bridging loan?

Up to 80% on prime central London residential through a private bank, up to 75% on residential through specialist lenders, 60% to 65% on commercial, and 60% on land with planning. Above 75% the lender pool narrows sharply and pricing rises accordingly.

Can I get a large bridging loan with no deposit or at 100%?

Only by putting up additional security. No lender advances 100% against a single asset. Where a borrower owns other property with equity in it, cross-charging that asset can produce a facility covering the full purchase price, with the blended gearing across both securities sitting within the lender's maximum.

How quickly can a large bridging loan complete?

Two to four weeks on facilities between £500,000 and £2 million, three to six weeks between £2 million and £10 million, and four to ten weeks between £10 million and £50 million. The usual cause of delay is title, not the credit decision.

Do you charge a broker fee on bridging?

No. We do not charge a broker fee on bridging or on commercial mortgages.

Can a company or SPV take out a large bridging loan?

Yes, and most unregulated large bridging is written to a corporate borrower. The lender will normally take a debenture and a share charge alongside the property charge, plus personal guarantees from the directors.

Can an offshore company get a large bridging loan on UK property?

Yes, subject to jurisdiction and structure. The borrower must hold a valid, in-date Overseas Entity ID under the Register of Overseas Entities, because without one the legal charge cannot be registered. The lender will also require a legal opinion from counsel in the company's jurisdiction, which adds cost and time.

Can I get a large bridging loan on a commercial property?

Yes. Commercial security is standard at this size, typically at 60% to 65% loan to value on prime assets and around 60% on secondary. Mixed-use, industrial, retail, offices, hotels and care homes are all financeable, with appetite varying by lender and by sector.

What happens if I cannot repay at the end of the term?

Speak to the lender early. Most will consider an extension where the exit is progressing but slower than planned, usually at a fee and sometimes at a higher rate. Where a sale has stalled, refinancing onto a term facility is often the better answer. Doing nothing until the redemption date is the worst option, because default interest at this size is expensive.

Is a large bridging loan regulated by the FCA?

Only where the security is a property you or an immediate family member occupies or intends to occupy. Bridging on investment, commercial or development property is unregulated. Where the borrower meets the FCA high net worth definition, income of £300,000 or net assets of £3 million, the regulated term cap can extend from twelve to sixty months.

Can I use a large bridging loan to buy at auction?

Yes, and it is one of the most common uses at this level. Auction contracts usually require completion within twenty-eight days, which no term lender can meet. Have the finance agreed in principle before you bid, and have your solicitor review the legal pack before the auction rather than after.

Can one bridging facility be secured on several properties?

Yes. Cross-charging is standard at this size and is the usual way to bring blended gearing down. On portfolio facilities the lender sets a blended LTV covenant and agrees a release mechanism so individual assets can be sold during the term.

Who lends above £50 million on a bridging basis?

Institutional debt funds, family office capital and clubs of two or three specialist lenders sharing a single facility. These are negotiated deal by deal and are not advertised. Terms are driven by the asset and the sponsor's track record rather than published criteria.