The average completion time for a bridging loan fell for the third consecutive year, coming in at 43 days in 2025, down from 47 in 2024.
This is the lowest figure since 2017 which also totalled the same number of days and suggests that multiple factors – including the implementation of more tech, increased efficiency and brokers having a better understanding of what is needed from them – are all combining to significantly speed up the process.
In total, £811m of bridging loans was transacted by Bridging Trends contributors in 2025, a 1.4% drop on 2024’s £822.2m.
Bridging Trends suggests this could be due to a softer Q4 2025 which saw £199.9m in transactions, down from Q3’s £209.4m. This is indicative of previous Q4s but could have been exacerbated by a sense of caution in the run-up to November’s Budget.
The most popular use of a bridging loan in 2025 was to fund an investment purchase, which totalled 20% of all bridges, up from 19% in 2024.
Coupled with the rise in heavy refurb bridging loans, which increased from nine per cent in 2024 to 11% in 2025, it seems that landlords and investors are coming back to the market and, as well as growing their portfolios, are looking at ways to maximise their return on investment (ROI).
The return of landlords could also be seen in the slight uptick in unregulated bridging, rising from 54% in 2024 to 55% in 2025.
Elsewhere, the proportion of re-bridges jumped from 7% in 2024 to 10% in 2025.
While the market is stabilising, sales are still somewhat flat, which could be impacting those whose exit strategy is linked to the sale of a property.
The average monthly interest rate fell from 0.88% in 2024 to 0.84% in 2025. A reduction in the average loan-to-value – which fell from 58% in 2024 to 55% in 2025 – could have contributed to this.
The fact that first charge lending rose from 86% in 2024 to 89% may also have played a part. Lenders also seem to be increasingly competitive when it comes to rates, which will be welcome news for borrowers.
According to Knowledge Bank, the top criteria searches made by bridging finance brokers in 2025 was for ‘regulated bridging’, ‘minimum loan amount’ and maximum loan-to-value’.
There was also an increase in searches relating to ‘splitting title deed’, ‘planning permissions’ and ‘minimum age at application’ in the final quarter of 2025 which implies that landlords and investors are continuing to diversify their portfolios and income structures.
The average term for a bridging loan remained at 12 months.
Bridging Trends combines bridging loan completions from several specialist finance packagers operating within the UK bridging market: AFIG, Brightstar Financial, Capital B, Clever Lending, Clifton Private Finance, Complete FS, Enness, Impact Specialist Finance, LDNfinance, Optimum Elite, Sirius Finance and UK Property Finance.
The data for top broker criteria searches is supplied by Knowledge Bank.
