Credco

The UK bridging market opened in 2026 with an average completion time of 41 days. Twelve months ago, the figure was 48. That’s a 15% improvement at sector level. Quarterly applications remain above £11.7bn, the total market is over £13bn, and investor purchases now account for around 20% of bridging deals, up from 16% earlier in 2025. By any honest measure, the market is faster than it’s been in years.

The instinct in the broker market is to credit the lenders. Better tech, faster credit decisions, sharper underwriting teams. All of that is true at the edges, and improvements to the lender process are part of the story. But it isn’t the main one. The deals closing fastest aren’t the ones placed with the fastest lenders. They’re the ones who arrive properly structured the first time.

A clean file with a credible exit and properly evidenced security gets a fast answer because there’s nothing for the credit team to chase. A messy file, even a strong deal on the merits, sits in committee because there are questions to answer before a decision can be made. Average completion time across the market is dropping because more brokers are getting the basics right at the application stage, not because lenders have suddenly got friendlier.

Across bridging and development finance, auction finance and the wider specialist book, the deals we work on are sized to close in days, not weeks. That’s not a lender promise. It’s a function of what arrives on the desk. The work happens before the file is submitted, not after. Get in touch if you’ve got something with a clock ticking.

HIRAN’S TAKE

“The fastest bridging deals aren’t fast because the lender is fast. They’re fast because the file lands ready to underwrite. Average completion time is dropping because more brokers are doing that work upfront. The rest are still waiting for credit teams to chase information that should have arrived with the application.”

— Hiran, Co-Founder & Director, Credco