18-05-2025
Fast-track housing loans ease backlog
Housing waiting list has shrunk by over 7,000 in three years as thousands of applicants drop ownership requests in favour of quicker financing options.
The Housing and Urban Planning Ministry said it had met 11,266 requests since 2022.
During that time it received 9,183 new ones. The difference, it said, showed progress in easing the backlog.
As of this year, 47,624 applications remain on the waiting list for ownership services. In 2022, that figure was above 55,000.
The drop has been driven by the take-up of financing schemes which provide quicker routes to housing.
Many who had been waiting years chose to switch to these instead.
Homes
The ministry has also begun offering homes to those whose requests go back as far as 2004.
Of the remaining requests, 44,632 are for housing units, 1,295 for plots, and 1,697 for ownership flats. In updates sent to a parliamentary inquiry, the ministry said 1,948 people had been shortlisted for housing units and 1,361 for ownership flats.
Plots and flats
It also said some requests dating back to 2006 had been met, including those for plots and flats.
Others were fast-tracked due to health problems or urgent family needs and reviewed by the Housing Investigation Committee.
During this legislative term, which started in December 2022, the ministry cancelled 2,705 requests.
These were found not to meet the rules.
Common reasons included not living in Bahrain full-time, failing to meet the definition of a household, owning other property, or having already received a housing loan.
Those affected are notified and given up to two years to sort things out and reapply if they still qualify.
As for how homes are handed out, the ministry said it uses the system laid out in Resolution No. 909 of 2015.
Law
That law sets out how requests are ranked.
There are two types of housing projects.
In general projects such as full housing towns, the ministry sets aside some homes for locals in the same governorate.
The rest are shared out by waiting time regardless of where the request came from.
Localised projects
In localised projects, homes are first given to those from the same area, then to nearby areas, and finally to the wider region.
The ministry said it aims to keep local ties intact by giving some weight to where the request comes from.
Still, across all types of projects, the date of the request remains the main factor.
Online system
Since 2016, housing has been handed out using an online system.
The process is filmed and logged, the ministry said, to make sure everything is recorded.
It added that the housing financing programme had helped take the pressure off the ownership system.
By offering fast-track loans across all governorates, the ministry said it had made housing quicker to get for those who are ready and eligible.
