‘Tumooh’ loan added to housing finance scheme

TDT | Manama

Email : editor@newsofbahrain.com

A new ‘Tumooh’ loan has been added to Bahrain’s housing-finance scheme, under Decision No. 950 of 2025 that amends the 2022 rules on financing services.

The move keeps the supplementary loan ceiling at BD20,000 and allows joint applications by spouses, with each paying instalments in line with the share financed.

Issued by Minister of Housing and Urban Planning, Her Excellency Amna bint Ahmed Al Rumaihi, the decision recasts supplementary finance as two strands.

Renovation Finance remains for repairs and renewal of a family’s current home.

Eligible borrowers

‘Tumooh’ is the new strand. It lets eligible borrowers lift an earlier housing loan so they can sell their present flat and buy another home under ministry rules, without losing access to support.

‘Tumooh’ is aimed at middle-income households.

Income at application and allocation must be between BD600 and BD1,200.

The applicant, or a family member, needs to hold an existing housing loan tied to a title-deed flat, and 10 years must have passed since that loan was granted.

The loan cap is BD20,000, set by income. Paperwork includes the title for the property to be bought and consent for the sale proceeds of the flat to be paid into Eskan Bank or the financing bank, as required.

The decision also restates the general bar to entry for all supplementary loans.

The applicant must be Bahraini, the head of the household, between 21 and 60, and of full capacity.

Repayments must be up to date, with no arrears beyond three months.

Neither the applicant nor the immediate family may have drawn a supplementary loan before, and they may not own any property other than the one tied to the application during the three years before filing and up to allocation.

The family must live in Bahrain on a permanent basis.

Renovation Finance carries its own bands and tests. Household income must sit between BD120 and BD1,200 at application and allocation.

The applicant or a family member must own at least a share in the sole family home to be repaired. Ten years must have elapsed since the family last took any housing help to acquire a home, from the government or elsewhere.

Technical report

If the home to be repaired is a title-deed flat, a technical report will set the scope of works and an estimate; the loan granted will be the lower of that estimate or the amount allowed by income.

Spouses can apply together for either strand so long as their combined income meets the floor and stays within the ceiling for the chosen loan at both stages.

Each pays the instalment tied to their share unless they agree on a different split.

To run the scheme, a technical committee will study cases and rule on the works and other technical points for both Renovation Finance and ‘Tumooh’.

The decision also adds formal definitions for ‘Tumooh’ and for the technical committee, and updates article headings from the 2022 rules to cover the setting of housing-finance values and joint spousal eligibility.