Short answer: A commercial bridging loan is short-term finance secured against commercial, industrial or retail property, used to cover the gap between one transaction completing and another settling. Instant Business Finance lends $20,000 to $5 million against commercial property, with no financials required and funding in as little as 24 hours.
What a commercial bridge is actually for
Almost every commercial bridging loan exists because two dates do not line up. You are buying premises and the property funding the purchase has not settled. A tenant has vacated and the refinance that was built around their lease needs reworking. A development has reached practical completion but the end facility is weeks away. In each case the money exists; it is simply not available on the day it is needed.
That is the whole product. A bridge is not growth capital and it is not a substitute for a term facility. It is a dated instrument that covers a known gap and is repaid by a known event, and it should be structured around that event rather than around how long you could tolerate holding it.
The test we apply, and the one you should apply to any bridging offer, is whether the exit is a thing that has a date on it. A signed contract, a settlement booked, a facility approved and waiting on conditions, a property already listed with a contract in hand. An intention to sell is not an exit, and building a bridge on one is how a manageable timing problem turns into a forced sale.
How commercial security is assessed differently
Commercial property is entirely ordinary security for us, but it is not assessed the same way as a house, and knowing the differences ahead of time saves days.
| Residential security | Commercial security | |
|---|---|---|
| Valuation basis | Comparable sales, often from a desk | Comparable sales plus income; a lease materially affects value |
| Speed to value | Minutes in an active metropolitan market | Desktop where the market is active, otherwise a physical inspection |
| What helps | A recent rates notice and a clean title | A current lease, the rent roll and outgoings |
| What slows it | Remote or unusual property | Single-purpose buildings, or a vacancy with no comparable letting evidence |
| Ownership | Usually personal names | Usually a company or trust, so signatories decide the timeline |
The single biggest practical difference is the lease. A commercial property let to a solid tenant on a lease with years to run supports a materially better position than the same building standing empty, because the valuer has income to work from rather than an assumption. If you have a lease, send it at the start rather than waiting to be asked.
Buying before you sell
This is the most common commercial bridge we write, and the one where the arithmetic is most often done wrong.
The instinct is to borrow the full purchase price and repay it when the existing property sells. Sometimes that is right. More often the better structure is to bridge only the shortfall, with the incoming term facility doing the rest, because the bridge is then sized to the actual gap rather than to the whole transaction and costs a fraction as much.
Work out three numbers before you talk to anyone. What the new property needs on settlement day. What the existing property will realistically net after selling costs, not what you hope it makes. And how long, honestly, the sale will take from listing to settlement in the current market for that kind of building. The gap between the first and second numbers is your bridge; the third number is your term.
Where owners get caught is the third number. A commercial property that takes eight months to sell on a bridge written for four months is a problem that compounds. Build in the time, and ask what an extension costs before you sign rather than when you need one.
A commercial bridge, start to finish
A Melbourne wholesale distributor had outgrown a leased warehouse and had a contract on a larger industrial unit in the outer east, settling in nineteen days. The plan had been to sell their existing owned premises first; the buyer's finance fell through eleven days out.
The existing premises were owned outright by the family trust and worth considerably more than the shortfall. We confirmed the title and formed a value on a desktop basis the same morning, issued the offer that afternoon, and settled on a registered second position two days later, well inside the settlement date.
The exit was the sale of the existing premises, which relisted and went under contract six weeks later. The bridge ran for four months in total and was repaid at that settlement.
What made it work was not the speed. It was that the exit was a real asset with a real market, and that the loan was sized to the shortfall rather than the purchase price.
What a commercial bridge costs
Priced per file. The equity behind any existing debt does most of the work, followed by the term and the strength of the exit, then the property type and location.
Commercial security sits slightly differently from residential because the market for any given building is narrower. An industrial unit in an active outer-metropolitan corridor prices close to residential. A single-purpose building in a small market prices more conservatively, because the question is always who else could use it.
We do not publish a headline rate, because a rate quoted before anyone has seen the property, the lease and the exit is a marketing number rather than your number. Every cost that can appear → lists what to demand in writing from any lender, including what an extension costs if the sale runs long.
Does the tenant need to be told?
Nothing about the day-to-day arrangement changes. Your tenant keeps paying rent to you under the same lease, and the loan is a matter between you and us.
What we will want to see is the lease itself, or at minimum the key terms: who the tenant is, the rent, the term remaining and what happens at expiry. Where a property is multi-tenanted, the rent roll does the same job.
Where a property is vacant or between tenants, it is still acceptable security. It is simply sized more conservatively, because the valuation rests on letting evidence rather than on income already in place.
Frequently asked questions
Can you lend against industrial or retail property?
Yes. Industrial units, warehouses, factories, offices, showrooms and retail premises are all standard security. Single-purpose and specialised buildings are assessed case by case, because value depends on who else could use the building.
Do you need financials for a commercial bridge?
No. The assessment is on the equity in the property and on how the loan will be repaid. Overdue lodgements, a loss year or a recent restructure do not stop the application.
What if the property is in a company or trust?
Entirely normal for commercial holdings. We will need the company or trust documents and every required signatory available on the day, which is usually what decides whether the file settles today or in three days.
How long can a commercial bridge run?
Matched to the exit rather than to a standard term. Ask what an extension costs and whether one is available before you sign, because a commercial sale running longer than expected is the most common reason a bridge needs one.
Can I bridge against a property I am buying rather than one I own?
Where you already own property with equity, that is the faster route. Security over the incoming property is possible but adds the purchase settlement to the critical path.
Does it cost anything to apply?
No. There's no cost to apply or check your eligibility. All costs are set out in writing in your loan offer before you sign anything.
Will checking my eligibility affect my credit score?
No. Our 60-second eligibility check doesn't make a credit enquiry. A credit check is only done later, with your consent, if you decide to proceed.
