BDL releases 300 billion Lebanese Lira to Banque de l'Habitat for renovation loans

Banque de l’Habitat announced in a statement that "Banque du Liban agreed, on Aug. 20, 2025, to release an amount of 300 billion Lebanese Lira from its own funds [deposited at BDL], intended exclusively for financing renovation loans for housing," through loans denominated in the national currency.

This category of loans has a maximum amount of two billion Lebanese Lira per loan, or about $22,300 at an exchange rate of 89,500 lira per dollar. According to the bank's terms, the borrower must have been Lebanese for more than 10 years, the area of the home financed by the loan must not exceed 150 square meters; and the borrower must be considered a low- or middle-income individual, with a household monthly income between 50 million and 200 million lira (or between $560 and $2,230).

Banque de l’Habitat specified that repayment of these loans can be spread over up to 10 years, with a three-month grace period, and with an interest rate of 7 percent. It clarified that interested parties can begin submitting their applications starting Aug. 25.

"We hope these loans will help people settle in their villages, notably by allowing them to renovate old existing buildings," Antoine Habib, chairman and CEO of Banque de l’Habitat, told L'Orient-Le Jour about a week ago.

At that time, he also said 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 have nearly three times as many applications as before," he said. However, finalizing the applications is taking time due to delays at the land registry offices, which are responsible, among other things, for delivering property certificates to borrowers. "We hope the Finance Ministry will soon resolve this issue, so as to speed up the granting of loans," the CEO added.