Bridge Financing
Also known as: Bridge loan · BC bridge financing · Interim financing · Closing-gap loan
A short-term loan from a lender that covers the gap between the down-payment-due date on a buyer's NEW home and the cash proceeds released on closing of their EXISTING home — typically funded for up to 90-120 days.
Bridge financing is short-term lending that covers the timing gap when a BC buyer's NEW home closes BEFORE their existing home's sale releases cash. The bridge loan is sized to the closing-day net proceeds the seller will receive (sale price less remaining mortgage, commission, legal, payout penalties, PTT on a replacement, etc.) and is funded for the days between the new-home completion and the existing-home completion. Typical BC bridge facility: 90-120 days at a contract rate of prime + 2% to prime + 4%, plus a setup fee of $250-$500. Bridge loans are typically only available where both the new-home purchase contract AND the existing-home sale contract are firm (subjects removed) — the lender wants visible repayment.
The trap most BC buyers fall into: assuming bridge financing is a statutory product. It is not. Bridge is entirely a lender-policy product, and not every lender offers it — many credit unions and B-lenders won't. If the existing home is unsold (only listed) at the time of the new-home closing, the bridge product is usually a "purchase plus improvements" or a HELOC against the existing home, not a true bridge — different underwriting, different costs. Ask your mortgage broker to confirm the lender's bridge product BEFORE you write subjects to remove on the new-home offer; some buyers have lost a deposit because they assumed bridge was always available and the lender declined post-firm.
Related terms
- CMHC Default Insurance Cap — The maximum home purchase price eligible for CMHC default mortgage insurance — raised from $1,000,000 to $1,500,000 effective December 15, 2024.
- OSFI Mortgage Stress Test (B-20) — OSFI Guideline B-20 requires federally-regulated lenders to qualify mortgage borrowers at the greater of (a) the contract rate plus 2 percentage points or (b) the Bank of Canada qualifying rate (5.
- Closing Day (Completion) — The contractually-stipulated date on which the buyer's lawyer registers the title transfer at the BC Land Title Office and the purchase funds are released to the seller — distinct from the possession date (typically completion + 1 day) and the adjustment date (the date utilities/property tax/strata fees are prorated).
- Subject to Sale of Buyer's Property — A contract subject in a BC offer making the purchase conditional on the buyer's existing home selling within a specified period — typically paired with a "time clause" that lets the seller serve a 48- or 72-hour notice to remove or collapse.
- Vendor Take-Back Mortgage (VTB) — A mortgage where the SELLER (vendor) lends part of the purchase price to the buyer, registered as a charge on title — rare in BC residential transactions, more common on farmland, acreage, and small-commercial deals.
See also
Use any of these formats. Codex content is licensed under CC BY 4.0 — attribution required.
@misc{bronsonjob-cmhc_insurance_cap,
author = {Job, Bronson},
title = {{CMHC default insurance maximum purchase price}},
howpublished = {BC Real Estate Codex},
year = {2026},
url = {https://www.bronsonjob.com/codex#cmhc.insurance_cap},
urldate = {2026-05-08},
note = {Fact ID: cmhc.insurance_cap, version 2.}
}Job, B. (2026). CMHC default insurance maximum purchase price. *BC Real Estate Codex*. Retrieved 2026-05-08, from https://www.bronsonjob.com/codex#cmhc.insurance_cap
CMHC default insurance maximum purchase price — Bronson Job PREC, BC Real Estate Codex (2026-05-08). https://www.bronsonjob.com/codex#cmhc.insurance_cap
Fact id: cmhc.insurance_cap · v2 · machine-readable: /api/v1/facts/by-id/cmhc.insurance_cap.json
Verified sources (2)· re-verified 2026-05-08Click to expand
Every claim on this page is sourced to a primary government, regulator, or industry-association URL. We re-verify quarterly; the verification dates below show when each source was last confirmed against the live government page.
- CMHCretrieved 2026-05-08Mortgage Loan Insurance Homeownership Programshttps://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/professionals/project-funding-and-mortgage-financing/mortgage-loan-insurance/cmhc-mortgage-loan-insurance-homeownership-programs
- Government of Canadaretrieved 2026-05-08· published 2024-09-16Government Announces Boldest Mortgage Reforms in Decadeshttps://www.canada.ca/en/department-finance/news/2024/09/government-announces-boldest-mortgage-reforms-in-decades-to-unlock-homeownership-for-more-canadians.html
cmhc.insurance_cap · v2View in Codex →License: This definition is licensed under CC BY 4.0. Cite as: "Bridge Financing", BC Real Estate Glossary by Bronson Job, https://www.bronsonjob.com/glossary/bridge-financing.
