Bridge financing cost calculator.

How bridge financing works in Canada

When you buy and sell in the same move, the two closing dates rarely line up perfectly. Your new home might close on a Monday while the sale of your existing home does not complete until later that week. The problem is that the down payment for the new place is locked inside your old home's equity, and that equity is not cash until the sale closes. Bridge financing advances that equity on your purchase day so you can close on time, then is repaid in full from the sale proceeds a few days or weeks later.

Because the loan only exists for the days between the two closings, it is priced by the day rather than as a term mortgage. The rate is usually prime plus about 1% to 4% (roughly 5.45% to 8.45% with the big-bank prime rate at 4.45% in September 2026), applied to the amount of equity being bridged. On top of the interest there is a one-time lender or admin fee, typically a few hundred dollars, and a small legal cost to register the loan. When your sale closes, the bridge disappears — there is no penalty for it being short-lived.

What affects your bridge cost

Three numbers move the total. The first is the amount of equity you are bridging — usually your old home's sale price minus the mortgage being discharged and any selling costs, which is the cash you are short on closing day. The second is the number of days between the two closings; a three-day gap costs almost nothing, while a 60 or 90-day gap is where the interest line starts to add up. The third is the rate, set as Prime plus the lender's bridge spread.

The fixed fees matter more than people expect on short bridges. If you are only bridging for a week, the lender and legal fees can easily outweigh the interest, so a $400 admin fee on three days of interest is the bulk of the cost. On longer bridges the interest dominates and the fees fade into the background. The calculator above splits your exact total into interest, lender fee, and legal cost so you can see which is driving it.

A worked example

Say you are buying a new home that closes on June 1 and your existing home's firm sale closes on July 1 — a 30-day gap. After discharging your old mortgage and paying the realtor, you will net $300,000 from the sale, and you need that full amount for the down payment on the new place. The lender bridges the $300,000 for those 30 days at an assumed 7.5% (illustrative, not a quote).

The interest works out to $300,000 × 7.5% × 30 ÷ 365, which is about $1,849. Add a $400 lender and admin fee and a $500 legal cost to register the bridge, and the total comes to roughly $2,749 to carry the gap. The interest alone is about $62 a day. It feels like a real number, but set against a $300,000 down payment that lets you close on the home you want without selling first or moving twice, For many buyers, that is a reasonable price for closing on time without moving twice.. Change the days, the amount, or the rate in the calculator to see how your own move compares.

When you need it, and how to keep it cheap

You need a bridge whenever your purchase closes before your sale and the down payment is tied up in the home you are selling. The key requirement is a firm, unconditional sale on your existing home: A-lenders bridge against known proceeds with a known payoff date, so without a firm sale you are pushed into more expensive private or open bridge financing. Line up the sale firmly before you count on a bridge.

To keep the cost down, shorten the gap where you can — negotiating closing dates a few days apart instead of weeks apart is the cheapest lever you have. Bundling the bridge with your new purchase mortgage at the same A-lender usually beats arranging it separately, both on rate and on fees. And if your sale is not yet firm, a HELOC on your current home can fund the down payment instead, though for a short, clean gap the bridge is normally cheaper.

Related scenarios

If you are moving and want to keep your current rate rather than break the mortgage, look at porting your mortgage to the new property — a bridge and a port often run side by side on the same file. To budget the full cost of the purchase, the land transfer tax calculator covers the closing tax, and the affordability calculator confirms the new mortgage fits before you commit to both closings.