What is the difference between a bridging loan and a commercial mortgage?

They both use property, but they do very different jobs.

• Bridging loan. Short-term, arranged quickly, and priced higher to reflect that. You use it to act fast or to cover a gap, then repay it within months once your exit, a sale or long-term finance, comes through.
• Commercial mortgage. Long-term funding, over many years, to buy or refinance business premises or investment property. It takes longer to arrange and involves more underwriting, but the ongoing cost is much lower.

A simple way to think about it: bridging solves a timing problem, while a commercial mortgage funds a long-term hold.

The two often work together. A common pattern is to use a bridge to secure a property quickly, perhaps at auction or needing work, then refinance onto a commercial mortgage once the property is ready and the longer process can run its course. That gives you the speed of bridging and the low long-term cost of a mortgage.

Which you need depends on your timescale and your plan for the property. We will look at both, and where a bridge-then-mortgage route makes sense, we will line up the exit from the start.