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How useful is 90% purchase-price bridging finance on below-market-value properties?

ended 19. August 2026

Bridging Loan Directory is examining how useful higher purchase-price bridging finance is when an investor acquires a property below its accepted market value, often before refinancing onto longer-term funding.

MS Lending Group recently launched a BMV Bridge offering up to 90% of the purchase price on qualifying residential transactions, subject to a maximum of 70% of market value. Its commercial option offers up to 80% of the purchase price, capped at 60% of the 180-day value.

Product details: https://bridgingloandirectory.co.uk/bridging-finance/ms-lending-group-launches-bmv-bridging-loan-offering-up-to-90-of-purchase-price/

  • We would like brokers and property professionals to explain:
  • how often clients secure discounts large enough to benefit;
  • how a genuine below-market-value purchase is evidenced;
  • which transactions are most likely to qualify;
  • whether fees and retained interest materially affect the cash required at completion;
  • what valuation issues can arise; and
  • whether the higher initial advance creates any difficulty when refinancing or otherwise exiting the bridging loan.

Recent first-hand or anonymised examples would be particularly useful. Please include your role, the property type and enough detail to explain the transaction. Responses of approximately 100–200 words are ideal.

After Bridging Loan Directory publishes the story, Newspage will adapt it for a wider consumer audience and distribute it to national and consumer media. 

5 responses from the Newspage community

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Tony Sanchez
Founder at Bridging Loan Directory
That’s fine Mark
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Mark Alexander
Founder at Property118.com
I will happily post this question, as written, in Property118, if that’s allowed
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Adam Stiles
Managing Director at Helix Financial Partners
This isn't new or unique to bridging. There are many lenders who will do 75% of the Open Market Value or 90% of the purchase price, whatever is lower. There are several who can in certain circumstances even go up to 100% of the purchase price. There needs to be a genuine reason for the below market value and of course a valuer needs to agree with the numbers. Distressed or wanting to sell quickly won't cut the mustard with most, but extending leases or breaking up freehold blocks or a deferred purchase subject to a material change to the property could unlock some real opportunity.

There is definitely a place for it, but the opportunities can be hard to find. Refinancing has got easier with these as there are numerous mainstream BTL lenders doing Day 1 remortgages or at the very least asking for a few thousand left in the deal.
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Nouran Moustafa
Practice Principal & IFA at Roxton Wealth
BMV bridging can be genuinely useful because a good investor does not always buy at market value. If someone negotiates a £500,000 property down to £400,000, lending purely against the purchase price can ignore £100,000 of built-in equity.

The key is proving the discount is real. A valuer still needs credible comparables and a defensible market value; “the agent said it is worth more” is not enough. Auction purchases, distressed sales and genuinely off-market deals are where this can work particularly well.

The headline 90% of purchase price is attractive, but investors still need to model arrangement fees, valuation, legal costs and retained interest because these affect the cash needed at completion.

And the exit comes first. Before using higher leverage, I want to know exactly which lender is likely to refinance it, at what value and LTV. A bridge is only clever if the way out is already clear.
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Evren Ergin
Founder And Developer at ValuQ
The model lives or dies on one word: value. Ninety percent of the purchase price is only prudent if the "market value" it is discounted from is real, and right now that benchmark is less solid than usual. Buyer demand has fallen, with RICS new buyer enquiries at a net -28% in July, and flats are the clearest warning: four in five now fail to sell within six months. A "20% below market value" deal is only below market if that figure still holds when you come to exit. The risk is not the discount. It is an optimistic open market value that leaves you at a far higher true loan-to-value the day demand will not support the exit. Anchor the number to actual completed sales on that street in the last few months, not asking prices and not a desktop estimate. If the comparables are thin, treat the discount as unproven.