Rocket Mortgage, the home lending arm of Rocket Companies, announced Tuesday it will now offer bridge loans, a short-term financing option that helps homeowners tap into their equity while selling their current property.

Bridge loans are designed to help buyers cover down payments or closing costs on a new home before finalizing the sale of their existing one. There is increasing interest in these products in today’s competitive housing market, marked by high prices and tight inventory. Some buyers can’t compete without first selling, missing opportunities to purchase a home.

Rocket clients will have up to six months to sell their homes and make interest-only payments during that period. To qualify, borrowers must have their current home listed or under contract with a listing agent, a guaranteed buyout agreement in place, and must pair the bridge loan with a Rocket Mortgage purchase loan. The maximum loan amount is $500,000.

“Buying and selling a home at the same time can be one of the most stressful parts of the journey,” said Bill Banfield, Rocket’s chief business officer and economist. “Rocket Mortgage’s new bridge loan alleviates this by helping people purchase on their terms — not the market’s.

“It removes one of the biggest barriers to moving: immediate access to the equity in their current property. With this new flexibility, buyers can quickly and confidently secure their next home.”

In an interview with HousingWire, Banfield said, “If you were to go back even just a couple of years ago, second mortgages were not even readily available in the marketplace. You had a combination of homes selling super fast, second mortgages not being very popular, and it wasn’t clear if there was a need.”

Now, there’s a lack of inventory, although it is picking up. Rocket ultimately decided to “test it out” with purchase borrowers on the retail side of the business before launching the product with broker partners.

In terms of pricing, the product is similar to a traditional closed-end second mortgage. In today’s market, that means a 9% interest rate or slightly higher, which is competitive with both home equity loans and home equity lines of credit (HELOCs), Banfield said.

The loan is intended to be paid off in six months, but Banfield noted that “people typically sell their homes much faster than that.” If not, borrowers can request a one-time extension. Rocket expects such situations to be rare, as the program is not designed for long-term financing.

“We all used to talk about people living in homes for seven years, but it’s actually closer to 10 to 12 years now that people are staying in their homes, so everybody’s built up a lot of equity,” Banfield said.

“That equity — not for everyone, but typically — is what’s used for the down payment on the new home. So the bridge loan simply allows them to leverage that equity for the down payment, and it’s not intended to be a loan that’s out there for a long period of time.”

The launch follows Rocket’s February 2025 rollout of RocketRentRewards, a program that offers closing-cost credits to renters. Eligible buyers can receive up to 10% back on their past year’s rent if they finance through Rocket.

It also adds to ONE+, which requires borrowers to make a 1% down payment of the purchase price. The Detroit-headquartered lender will cover the remaining 2% needed to reach the required threshold for conventional loans.

In the first quarter, chief financial officer Brian Brown told analysts the company had an increase in refinances and home equity loans. Rocket originated $21.5 billion in mortgages in the period, up from $20.2 billion in the same period last year but down from $27.8 billion in the fourth quarter of 2024. 

The company is leveraging technology to better navigate mortgage market cycles. 

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