When will the PCH restart subsidised housing loans?

Also asked as: “When will PCH housing loans restart in Lebanon?” · “PCH housing loan at 3.5% in the 2027 budget” · “Is the Public Corporation for Housing taking applications?” · “When do subsidised housing loans come back in Lebanon?”

What PCH is and why it stopped lending#

The Public Corporation for Housing (PCH) is fully state-run. It does not lend money itself. It subsidises loans that commercial banks write, while Banque de l'Habitat (BDH) is a separate bank in its own right^[1]. The two are often confused, so here is how PCH and BDH loans differ.

Sources disagree on when the subsidised loans ended. EnterpriseAM reports that PCH stopped taking applications in 2019, when the crisis ended the Banque du Liban credit line that had subsidised its loans through commercial banks for two decades^[1] (see repaying an old LBP housing loan). LCPS dates the end of subsidised housing loans to 2018 and says that before the crisis these loans carried 3 to 5% interest, 30-year terms and a 20% down payment^[2]. No source says a restart would use those old terms.

The 2027 restart plan#

As of September 2026, PCH Director Rony Lahoud and Social Affairs Minister Haneen Sayed had asked for USD 100 million in the draft 2027 budget to finance PCH loans at 3.5%. That rate would be 2.25 points below BDH's 5.75%^[1]. Finance Minister Yassine Jaber sent the draft to the Cabinet on 31 August 2026 and listed the PCH restart among its new measures.

A draft budget is not law until the Cabinet reviews it and Parliament votes it, and no source says what happens to the PCH plan if the budget does not pass^[1]. Banks are a second open question. PCH works through commercial banks, but as of autumn 2026 trade and news press report that those banks are still not writing home mortgages^[1,5]. We found no source on which banks would handle restarted PCH loans. More on whether commercial banks give mortgages.

What is not confirmed#

Some reports give a lower figure for the PCH allocation than the USD 100 million request. We could not check them against a source, so we leave them out. The loan term, the ceiling per loan and the size of the old queue of pending files have also been reported without confirmation. Who will qualify, including whether Lebanese living abroad can apply, has not been published.

If our home loans page shows a PCH option, read its 3.5% as the proposed rate. Nobody is offering it yet^[1]. Our sources do not list a PCH phone line, website or office that takes applications, so contact PCH only through its own official channels and be wary of anyone else offering to "register" you. Ask three things: whether the 2027 allocation was approved, when applications open, and which banks will take them.

If you need a loan before PCH reopens#

BDH is lending now. As of October 2026 its purchase-loan rate is 5.75% a year (APR 6.33%)^[1,3,4], and it lends up to USD 100,000 (minimum USD 20,000)^[3,6]. BDH is open to residents and expatriates^[3,6,7], and a borrower must have held Lebanese citizenship for at least 10 years. See BDH loan conditions and whether to wait for PCH or take BDH now.