What is the difference between PCH and BDH housing loans?

Also asked as: “PCH vs BDH: which housing loan is which and who can apply?” · “Is the Housing Bank the same as the PCH?” · “Public Corporation for Housing or Banque de l'Habitat?” · “Can I still get a PCH housing loan?”

Two different institutions#

The PCH is entirely state-run. It did not lend money itself; it subsidised housing loans that commercial banks wrote. BDH is a bank that lends directly, owned 80% by private banks and insurers and 20% by the state^[1]. EnterpriseAM notes that people routinely confuse the two.

Before the crisis, subsidised housing loans came through commercial banks, the PCH and the Housing Bank. LCPS reports interest of 3 to 5%, 30-year terms and a 20% down payment, and says that policy stopped in 2018^[4]. EnterpriseAM puts the PCH's stop in 2019, when the crisis ended the Banque du Liban credit line behind its loans^[1]. As of autumn 2026, the press reports that commercial banks are still not writing home mortgages^[1,6]. More on that in whether Lebanese banks give mortgages.

PCH and BDH side by side#

The "Not published" cells are real gaps. We found no official PCH document that sets out loan sizes, income limits or citizenship rules for a restart. Smaller figures than USD 100 million for the restart budget circulate in other sources^[1].

BDH today: what the loan covers#

BDH is lending. By 2 July 2026 it had granted 1,059 loans worth USD 74 million^[1,3]. A purchase loan runs 7 to 20 years^[2,5]. The home can be 150 m² at most^[2,5,7], and it must be used only as the family's home.

You put down at least 20% of the home's value as the bank's own valuation sets it, not the agreed price^[2,5]. BDH pays the seller only after the property is registered in your name and the bank holds the new title deed and a first-degree mortgage certificate. The loan is paid only in cash in fresh US dollars^[2,5,7].

The 5.75% headline needs care when you compare it with the 3.5% PCH request. Its APR of 6.33% leaves out notary and registration fees and fire insurance^[1,2,3]. BDH's February 2026 Key Fact Statement, issued before the July cut, gave 6%, fixed for the first year only^[5], subject to change after that. No source says whether the 5.75% rate works the same way, so ask BDH for its current Key Fact Statement before you sign.

BDH takes applications on an online platform open 9:00 to 13:00 on working days^[2,7,8]. It says it works through no brokers or intermediaries, so anyone charging you a fee to "get" a BDH loan is not acting for the bank^[2,8]. The full list of rules is in BDH loan conditions.

PCH: what is known about a restart#

As of September 2026, the PCH director and the Social Affairs Minister had asked for USD 100 million requested, at 3.5%^[1] in the draft 2027 budget. That rate would be 2.25 points below BDH's 5.75%, but it is a request in a draft, not an approved programme. No source says what happens to the plan if the budget does not pass.

Nothing published says who will qualify for a restarted PCH loan, how much it will lend, or whether an existing BDH loan would rule you out. Ask the PCH directly, and check whether Parliament has voted the 2027 budget. We track it in when the PCH will restart loans. If you are choosing between a BDH loan now and waiting, read whether to wait for a PCH loan.