Bridging finance vs a holiday park mortgage: which fits the deal?

Bridging finance and a holiday park mortgage solve different problems, and choosing between them comes down to the deal and its timing. A park acquisition mortgage is long-term, lower-cost debt for a trading park you can buy on its current earnings; bridging is short-term debt for a situation a term mortgage cannot handle on day one, such as a fast or distressed purchase, or a park that needs stabilising before it can be refinanced on its earnings. Used in the right place, each is the right tool; used in the wrong place, each is expensive or impossible.

This guide compares the two on speed, cost, criteria and exit, sets out when a park deal needs a bridge rather than a mortgage, and explains how purchases move from a bridge onto a term park mortgage. We arrange both as a broker and introducer, not a lender, and this is general information rather than advice.

What each product is for

A park acquisition mortgage is a commercial term loan, usually over 15 to 25 years, secured on a trading park and sized on its sustainable EBITDA and the strength of the asset. It is charged at a relatively low rate and is the long-term home for the debt on a stabilised park. It is the right product when the park can be bought on its current, evidenced earnings and the timing allows a normal commercial mortgage process, including a specialist valuation.

Bridging finance is short-term, typically months rather than years, designed to fund a park quickly or to hold it through a transition that a term lender will not yet fund. It is faster, more flexible on the condition and situation of the park, and more expensive, with interest charged monthly from around 0.75 per cent a month. It is the right product when a term mortgage cannot work yet, because of speed, condition, distress or unevidenced earnings, and there is a clear plan to exit onto a term mortgage or a sale.

Speed, cost and criteria compared

On speed, bridging wins decisively. A bridge can often complete in a few weeks, fast enough to secure a distressed or off-market park or to beat a deadline, where a park acquisition mortgage runs on a commercial valuation and credit timetable that takes longer. On cost, the mortgage wins decisively: a term park mortgage is far cheaper than bridging, which carries higher monthly interest plus arrangement and exit costs, reflecting its short-term, higher-risk nature.

On criteria, the products differ in what they care about. A park acquisition mortgage cares about the sustainable EBITDA, the tenure and licence, the durability of the pitch-fee income and the management going in. Bridging cares more about the value of the asset, the strength of the exit and the deal as a whole, and is comfortable with parks whose earnings are not yet evidenced, that need work, or that are being bought in a hurry. The trade-off is straightforward: bridging buys speed and flexibility at a higher cost, while a mortgage offers low-cost, long-term debt but only for a park and timetable that suit it.

When does a park deal need a bridge?

Several common situations push a park purchase towards bridging first. A distressed or off-market park that must be secured quickly, before a competitor or before the seller's deadline, can need a bridge for speed, particularly in an active market where Christie and Co reported agreed park and leisure deals tripling in the first half of 2025. A park whose accounts do not yet support a term lend, perhaps because of recent disruption or a repositioning opportunity, needs a bridge to complete while the earnings are rebuilt. A park needing capital works before it can trade or refinance on its stabilised earnings sits outside a standard term mortgage until the work is done.

In each case the logic is the same: the park cannot yet support a term acquisition mortgage on its evidenced earnings, so a bridge funds the interim and a mortgage takes over once the park is stabilised. The discipline is to use bridging only where there is a clear, fundable exit, because a bridge without a credible exit is a trap. We assess the exit before arranging the bridge, precisely so that does not happen, and we keep the term lender's criteria in view from the start.

Moving from a bridge onto a term park mortgage

The exit is the heart of any bridging plan. For a park, the usual exit is a refinance onto a park acquisition or commercial term mortgage once the park is stabilised and, ideally, has begun to demonstrate its earnings under the new ownership. The new term mortgage repays the bridge, leaving the borrower with long-term, lower-cost debt on a stabilised park, often having added value through the works or repositioning the bridge funded.

Planning the exit before drawing the bridge is essential, because the term lender's criteria, the evidenced EBITDA and the park's tenure and licence all need to line up for the refinance to complete. The most common cause of trouble with bridging is an exit that was assumed rather than checked. We arrange the bridge and the exit mortgage together, so the whole journey, from fast purchase through stabilisation to a term mortgage, is planned and priced from the start. We act as a broker and introducer throughout, not a lender.