Since 2013, Banque du Liban (BDL), Lebanon’s central bank, has announced over $6 billion in annual stimulus packages to prop up the country’s faltering economy. A range of sectors, from energy to education, have benefited from stimulus-facilitated credit, but none more so than the real estate market. Year after year, property developers and consumers have grown to expect and rely on the disbursement of BDL-subsidized mortgages, which have attracted the lion’s share of the government’s stimulus money. For years, bankers and real estate executives have said that the market is driven almost entirely by purchases with subsidized loans. Perhaps this is why the latest billion-dollar stimulus package caused such a stir following its anticipated but delayed announcement. On February 2, new measures were introduced through Circular 485 that hiked mortgage interest rates, tightened qualifications, and shortened maturities on subsidized housing loans for certain banks. For the first time, BDL predetermined
