A bridging loan (overbruggingskrediet) is a temporary loan that lets you use the equity in your current home before that home has been sold and transferred. You need one when you buy a new home, want to put that equity towards it, and the new home becomes yours before the old one is off your hands. The main cost is the interest while the loan runs, and in 2026 that interest is deductible according to the Dutch Tax Administration.
How a bridging loan works
Say your mortgage is lower than the value of your home. The difference is your equity (overwaarde). When you buy another home, you usually want to put that money in, to pay the buyer's costs or to start with a smaller new mortgage. But as long as your old home has not been transferred, the money is still tied up in the house.
The bridging loan advances you that amount. On the day your old home passes to the buyer at the notary, you first repay the old mortgage and then the bridging loan. What is left is yours.
In the meantime you have three loans running side by side: the mortgage on the old home, the new mortgage and the bridging loan. For tax purposes you do not have to make interim repayments on the bridging loan. You pay interest on it until the sale.
When do you need one?
Not every homeowner who moves needs a bridging loan. You only need one if you need the equity for the new home and you get the new home before the old one has been transferred.
If your old home is transferred earlier or on the same day, the equity is released at the notary anyway. If you can pay for the new home without the equity, for example from savings, you do not need the loan either. And sometimes the equity is so small that a bridging loan is not worth the cost.
What the lender looks at
The lender decides how much you can bridge and for how long. Usually it is part of the expected equity, based on the sale price or a valuation of your current home. The conditions differ per lender.
If you already have a signed purchase agreement for your old home, the sale price is fixed and the lender knows where it stands. If the home has not been sold yet, the lender works with the valuation, and there is a chance that the proceeds turn out lower or that the sale takes longer.
When the lender assesses the new mortgage, Article 4(6) of the Dutch Temporary Regulation on Mortgage Credit applies (rules for 2026). The lender may leave the costs of the mortgage on your unsold home, including the costs of the bridging loan, out of the calculation. The condition is that it is plausible you can keep paying those costs for a period the lender considers reasonable. So the lender checks whether you can absorb the double housing costs for a while, from your income or your savings.
What does a bridging loan cost?
The largest cost is the interest. You only pay it while the loan runs, from the transfer of the new home until the transfer of the old one. The rate differs per lender. You can find current mortgage rates on our mortgage rates page. If your current home has not been sold yet, a valuation is often needed as well.
According to the Belastingdienst, interest on a bridging loan is deductible for the maximum term of that loan. Once the old home is sold, you repay the bridging loan and the deduction for that loan ends.
You may also keep deducting the interest on the mortgage of your old home for a while after you move out. That applies in the year of the move and the three years after, as long as the home is vacant, for sale and not rented out. If you do not live in the new home yet, the interest on it is deductible if that home is vacant or under construction and you move in that year or within three years.
You do pay the double housing costs yourself first. You get part of it back later through your tax return or a provisional assessment.
An example from Almere
The example is indicative and based on the rules for 2026.
A couple in their forties live in a terraced house in Almere Buiten with a mortgage of € 210,000. They buy a semi-detached house in Almere Poort for € 525,000 and get the keys on 1 March. They have sold their current home for € 420,000, but the buyer only wants the transfer on 1 June.
The equity is € 420,000 minus € 210,000, so € 210,000, before selling costs such as the estate agent. On the new home they pay 2 percent transfer tax, € 10,500, because they no longer qualify for the starter exemption. Suppose the lender bridges € 180,000 of the equity. Their new mortgage can then be smaller, and for three months they pay interest on three loans. On 1 June the home in Almere Buiten is transferred, they repay the old mortgage and the bridging loan at the notary, and they keep the rest.
If the old home is transferred later than planned, the loan runs longer and they pay double housing costs for longer. For a home that has not been sold yet, the proceeds are not fixed either.
Other ways to bridge the gap
If you would rather not take a bridging loan, you can try to move the transfer of the new home closer to that of the old one. You agree on that during the negotiations. You can also sell first and buy afterwards, with the chance that you have to live somewhere else for a while. Our page for homeowners moving on has more about moving to your next home.
Which buyer's costs you pay from your own money is explained in How much of your own money do you need to buy a house?. How much you can borrow for the new home is covered in How much mortgage can I get in 2026?. More about how we work is on our mortgage advisor in Almere page.
Are you moving and do you want to know whether you need a bridging loan? Book a free introductory meeting at our office on Schoutstraat in Almere, in English or Dutch. We will work it out with your own figures.