The entrance to the Banque de L'Habitat in Beirut. (Credit: Photo provided by the bank)
During a meeting at the Chamber of Commerce of Tripoli and northern Lebanon on Aug. 11, at the invitation of its president Toufik Dabboussi, Banque de l’Habitat’s CEO Antoine Habib announced the launch of a new category of loans in Lebanese lira.
This category is intended for home renovations and covers a maximum of LL2 billion per loan, the equivalent of approximately $22,300 at a rate of LL89,500 to the dollar.
Habib recalled that the borrower must have held Lebanese citizenship for at least 10 years and that the property covered by the loan must not exceed 150 m².
He added that the borrower must be considered a low- or middle-income individual, with a household monthly income between LL50 million and LL200 million (or between approximately $560 to $2,230).
Speaking to L’Orient-Le Jour, Habib explained that these loans are financed from the bank’s own funds and can be repaid over a period of up to 10 years, with a one-year grace period and a seven percent interest rate. “We hope these loans will help people settle in their villages, particularly by giving them the opportunity to renovate existing older buildings,” he added.
Since subsidized housing loans ceiling became $100,000, BDH witnessed ‘rush’
At the same time, Habib emphasized that since the ceiling for subsidized housing loans was raised from $50,000 to $100,000 in June, Banque de l’Habitat has witnessed a “rush.” “We now have almost three times as many applications as before,” he added.
However, finalizing the applications takes time due to delays in the registry offices, which are responsible, among other things, for issuing property certificates to borrowers, he noted.
“We hope the Finance Ministry will resolve this issue soon, so as to speed up the granting of loans,” he said.
Funded by a $50 million Kuwaiti dinar line of credit — nearly $163 million — from the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development at a rate of 10 million Kuwaiti dinars per year, these loans are dedicated to low or middle-income Lebanese households, between $1,200 and $2,000.
Spread over 20 years with a six percent interest rate, they are intended for the purchase of a home, the renovation of an existing property or the construction of a house on land already owned by the borrower.
In parallel, he said that discussions are ongoing with the Abu Dhabi Development Fund and the Qatar Development Fund in a bid to secure similar lines of credit from them.
Talks with the latter concern a loan equivalent to $300 million spread over six years, or $50 million per year, with the goal of making these funds available as of late 2025 or early 2026.
This article was translated from L'Orient-Le Jour by Joelle El Khoury.
