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Upgrading, downsizing or relocating is not one transaction. It is two, running at once, joined by a date that rarely lines up. That — not qualifying — is what makes moving harder than buying your first.
Stephen Green, Mortgage BrokerWaterloo Region · serving all of Ontario
Nearly 30 years in Canadian financial services
General information. Bridge financing, porting and equity access are all subject to lender approval, full qualification and your existing mortgage terms.
A first-time buyer needs a down payment and an approval. You need those too — but yours is tied up in a house you are still living in, and releasing it depends on a sale you do not fully control.
Two closing dates that must either match or be bridged. Sellers and buyers each have their own preferences and they rarely agree.
Breaking it may cost a penalty. Porting it may avoid one entirely. Which applies depends on your contract and on rules most people have never read.
You qualify on today's circumstances, not the ones you had when you first bought. Incomes, debts and the stress test have all moved since.
The tool that stops you having to sell and buy on the same day.
An accepted offer with conditions removed. This is what lenders bridge against — a listing on its own is not usually enough.
The equity you will receive, less what is needed on the new purchase, across the exact number of days between the two closings.
The bridge advances the shortfall so your purchase completes without waiting for the sale proceeds.
The proceeds arrive and the bridge is repaid. You pay interest for the days used, plus the set-up fee.
The full calculation — how the amount, the cost and the lender’s tests actually work →
There is no universally right answer. There is a right answer for your circumstances and your appetite for risk.
| Buy first | Sell first | |
|---|---|---|
| Main advantage | You secure the home you want and move once | You know exactly what you have to spend |
| Main risk | Carrying two properties if the sale is slow | Needing somewhere to live if you do not find the next one |
| Financing | Must qualify carrying both, unless the sale is firm | Simpler — the equity is already in hand |
| Bridging | Usually needed | Rarely needed |
| Suits | A moving market, or a specific home you will not compromise on | A slower market, or a tighter budget |
Not a guess. What the property is worth against what you still owe, tracked rather than estimated once a decade. Property Monitor Pro →
Taking your existing mortgage with you can avoid a penalty entirely. Whether you can depends on your contract, the timing, and whether you need to borrow more.
If porting is not available, breaking has a price — and on a fixed mortgage it can be substantial. Find out before you list. Penalty Protector Pro →
Affordability on today's circumstances, using the ratios lenders actually apply. Open the calculators →
Break costs weighed against the benefit, which is the same question a refinance asks. Open the calculators →
All nine calculators plus your home value estimate, on your home screen. See the app →
Based in Waterloo Region, working throughout southwestern Ontario — and able to help wherever in the province you are moving from or to.
A short-term loan that covers the gap when your new home closes before your existing one does. It lets you use the equity from a sale that has not completed yet, so you are not forced to line the two dates up perfectly.
Almost always, yes. Lenders bridge against a sale agreement with the conditions removed, because that is what tells them the money is genuinely coming. A property merely listed is not usually enough.
Interest for the days you use it, typically at a premium over prime, plus a set-up fee of a few hundred dollars. Because it usually runs for days or weeks rather than years, the total is often smaller than people fear — but it should be worked out in advance, not assumed.
Often, yes. Porting moves your existing mortgage to the new property, which can avoid a penalty entirely. It has rules — timing windows, requalification, and how any additional borrowing is blended — and not every mortgage allows it.
It depends on your tolerance for risk and your access to funds. Buying first risks carrying two properties; selling first risks needing somewhere to live. Bridge financing exists precisely because neither is comfortable. There is a comparison further down this page.
If you port, often nothing. If you break the mortgage, you pay the prepayment charge — and on a fixed mortgage that can be far larger than people expect. Worth knowing the number before you list, not after; the Penalty Protector Pro page explains how it is calculated.
Yes, and that is usually where it comes from. The question is timing: if the equity is locked in a property that has not sold, bridge financing is what releases it early.
Yes. A new mortgage, or a ported one with additional funds, means full qualification including the stress test — based on your circumstances today, not those when you first bought.
Then the maths runs the other way and the question becomes what to do with the proceeds. That is a planning conversation rather than a mortgage one, and it is worth having before you list.
Before you list. Knowing your penalty, whether you can port, what you qualify for now and how the dates could work changes what you list at and what you offer on.
Knowing your penalty, whether you can port, and what you qualify for today changes what you list at and what you offer on. That conversation costs nothing and takes about twenty minutes.