£1.2M bridging loan on UK property to purchase a home in South Africa
£1.2m · 30% LTV · 9-week completion
Completed in 9 weeks
In short
How was £1.2M bridging loan on UK property to purchase a home in South Africa financed?
Clifton International arranged regulated bridging loan for this Cape Town / London transaction — £1.2m, 30% LTV, 9-week completion. £1.2m regulated bridging loan secured against £4m of unencumbered London residential property, c.30% LTV, 9-week completion, used to purchase a home in Cape Town and provide a currency buffer.
- Location: Cape Town / London. Finance type: Regulated bridging loan.
- Time to funding: Completed in 9 weeks.
- A client had put down a deposit on a £1m property in Cape Town and needed a £1m bridging loan to complete within a tight deadline, plus an extra £200k to hedge against GBP/ZAR currency fluctuations during the process. Purchasing overseas property with UK finance is notoriously difficult.
- The client completed the Cape Town purchase on time. The low LTV and dual-property security secured the most competitive rate despite the complexity and overseas use of funds.
- Loan amount
- £1,200,000
- Security value
- £4,000,000
- LTV
- c.30%
- Use of funds
- Cape Town property purchase
- Completion
- 9 weeks
- Exit
- Sale of UK property / business liquidity event
- Challenge
- A client had put down a deposit on a £1m property in Cape Town and needed a £1m bridging loan to complete within a tight deadline, plus an extra £200k to hedge against GBP/ZAR currency fluctuations during the process. Purchasing overseas property with UK finance is notoriously difficult.
- Solution
- Using two UK properties as security — a £2.5m unencumbered London home and a separate £1.5m London flat — we arranged a £1.2m regulated bridging loan at a comfortable 30% LTV. We worked with a lender comfortable with the large loan size and overseas use of funds, packaging the application around a clear exit strategy.
- Funding structure
- £1.2m regulated bridging loan secured against £4m of unencumbered London residential property, c.30% LTV, 9-week completion, used to purchase a home in Cape Town and provide a currency buffer.
- Outcome
- The client completed the Cape Town purchase on time. The low LTV and dual-property security secured the most competitive rate despite the complexity and overseas use of funds.
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FAQs
Questions on this case
- Can I use a UK property as security for a bridging loan to buy overseas?
- Yes. UK regulated bridging lenders will lend against unencumbered or lightly mortgaged UK residential property and permit the funds to be used to purchase property overseas, including in South Africa. In this case, £1.2m was raised against £4m of London property at c.30% LTV.
- How quickly can a bridging loan for an overseas purchase complete?
- With clean UK security, a low LTV and a proactive legal team, completion is typically 6–10 weeks. This South Africa case study completed in 9 weeks from application to funds drawn.
- Can a bridging loan include a currency hedge?
- A bridging loan can be structured to release additional capital that the borrower uses to manage currency exposure. In this case, an extra £200k was raised to buffer GBP/ZAR movements during the purchase process.
More answers in our UK mortgage FAQs, covering standard mortgages, expat applications, foreign-currency income and bridging.
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