Housing loans and payment plans in Lebanon in 2026

Lebanese banks still don't give mortgages in 2026, so the Housing Bank (بنك الإسكان) is where most buyers who need a loan go. It lends Lebanese citizens up to $100,000 at 5.75% over 7 to 20 years, for a flat of up to 150 m², if they put down at least 20%. Everyone else pays cash, or in instalments to a developer or the owner.

Why don't banks give mortgages in Lebanon?

Banks stopped lending for homes in the 2019 crisis and still weren't writing mortgages in September 2026. In early 2025, they didn't hold enough long-term fresh-dollar deposits to lend over many years. Deposits from before 2019 are still largely blocked, and the law on sharing out the banks' losses and repaying deposits still hadn't passed in early November 2026.

The Housing Bank loan in 2026

The Housing Bank (Banque de l'Habitat) is 80% owned by private shareholders, mostly banks and insurers, and 20% by the state. It reopened in June 2024 on a credit line of about $165 million from the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development. Its purchase loan, as published in November 2026:

It also lends up to $100,000 to build on land you own and $50,000 to renovate. By early October 2026 it had made about 1,300 loans worth about $90 million.

Who qualifies, and how to apply

The bank's conditions in November 2026:

• Lebanese nationality for more than 10 years, a clean criminal record, and no bounced cheques in 10 years.
• At least 2 years in work, in Lebanon or abroad, with income proven in fresh dollars.
• Household net income of $2,500 to $5,000 a month for the full $100,000. The instalment can't go above 33% of net income, or all your monthly debts above 45%.
• Repaid by 64 for employees, by 70 for the self-employed.
• If you already own a home, the new one must be at least 25 km away.

Applications go through the bank's online platform (9:00 to 13:00, working days). The bank says it uses no intermediaries.

The seller is paid only once the flat is registered in your name with a first-rank mortgage for the bank, so they have to agree to wait. The bank's mortgage is exempt from the mortgage registration and release fees, but you still pay the usual buying costs.

Tip: Write into the promise to sell (وعد بالبيع) that part of the price comes from a Housing Bank loan, paid after registration, and what happens to your deposit if the loan is refused.

What does a $100,000 loan cost each month?

In the bank's example (February 2026, at the old 6% rate), $100,000 over 20 years costs $724 a month. Add $13 a month of life insurance for a 34-year-old, $6 of monthly fees, and fire insurance once a year.

At 5.75%, the standard loan formula gives about $700 a month, and you repay about $170,000 over 20 years before insurance (our calculation). The bank's own figure can be a little higher: at 6%, the same formula gives $716 against the bank's $724. One point more on the rate takes the bank's example to $785 a month. Life insurance costs more for older borrowers. Try your own figures in the mortgage calculator.

The Public Housing Corporation's planned loans

The Public Housing Corporation (المؤسسة العامة للإسكان), the state body that subsidised home loans made by banks, stopped taking applications in 2019, when the crisis ended the Banque du Liban credit line behind it.

For the first time, the draft 2027 budget sets aside 2,118 billion pounds (about $24 million) for housing loans through the Corporation. In late October 2026 the draft was before Parliament's Finance and Budget Committee. None of it applies until Parliament passes it.

In September 2026 the Corporation proposed loans of up to $100,000 at 3.5% over up to 20 years, to buy, build or renovate, from early 2027. They would exclude anyone who has had a housing loan or owns a home, alone or through a spouse. A household income ceiling of about $3,000 to $3,500 a month was under discussion.

The rules aren't final. At the $70,000 average loan its director gave, $24 million covers about 340 loans (our arithmetic).

Buying in instalments from a developer

With a developer's payment plan, you pay a deposit when you sign, then instalments while the building goes up and sometimes after delivery, on whatever schedule the contract sets.

Until the building is divided into flats (فرز), there's no numbered flat to register: you hold a contract, sometimes with shares of the plot. The developer may have mortgaged the plot to a bank. If the work stops, your instalments are only a claim against the developer. Buying off-plan covers the checks.

In the contract:

• The flat's floor, area and finishes, the plot number and the building permit.
• Instalments tied to stages of the work, each with a date.
• The delivery date, and a penalty for each month of delay.
• When the flat will be registered in your name, and that any bank mortgage on the plot is lifted first.
• What you get back, and by when, if the project stops.

Have your lawyer record the promise to sell at the Land Registry as a provisional registration (قيد احتياطي). It puts your claim ahead of later sales. A Housing Bank loan can't pay these instalments: it pays out only once the flat is in your name.

Paying the owner in instalments

If an owner agrees to be paid over time, there are two ways to secure the deal:

1. Register the sale now, with a mortgage for the seller on the unpaid price. The home is yours from the start, and the seller can have it sold through the execution department if you stop paying.
2. Sign a promise to sell and register it. The owner keeps the title until your last payment but can't sell to anyone else during the promise's term, at most 15 years. Take up the promise in writing before it expires.

Either way, write down each instalment, its date and the penalty for a late one, and pay by bank transfer. Then search homes for sale.