Mortgage for olim (new immigrants) in Israel: a practical guide

• Timing: before aliyah you're usually a foreign resident, financed up to 50%; after aliyah, a sole apartment generally up to 75%.
• Purchase tax: olim arriving on or after 15.08.2024 pay, once, on a sole apartment priced up to ₪20,183,565: 0% up to ₪1,978,745, 0.5% up to ₪6,055,070 and 8% above that.
• Income must be regular, documented and paid into your account.
• Credit history: the Israeli score uses credit data reported in Israel, so new olim often start with little.

All figures were checked on 18.10.2026 in the Bank of Israel and Kol Zchut sources listed at the end. General information, not legal or tax advice.

The bank asks whether you're an "Israeli citizen" under a specific legal definition. If you aren't, you're a foreign resident, and the most it can finance is 50%.

Directive 329 defines a foreign resident (תושב חוץ) as "anyone who is not an Israeli citizen", taking "Israeli citizen" from section 16A(a)(1)–(1B) of the Land Taxation Law. According to the section's wording, that covers anyone registered, or required to be registered, in the population registry; an individual Israeli resident; and people entitled to immigrate under the Law of Return who live in Judea and Samaria. The Bank of Israel adopts the law's definitions as written and doesn't interpret them (Q&A 1.2). A foreign resident's purchase "is necessarily defined as an investment apartment, and the maximum financing rate for it is 50%" (Q&A 2.4, our translation).

Once you've made aliyah and are in the population registry, you generally fall within the definition. The 75% cap also requires a sole apartment (דירה יחידה): Directive 329 uses the purchase-tax definition in section 9 of the Land Taxation Law, for an apartment bought by an individual "Israeli citizen". Ask the bank how it will classify you before you sign.

Buying with a relative classified differently? If the Tax Authority treats you as separate buyers, the bank can treat you as separate borrowers, with a cap based on each buyer's share (Q&A 2.19).

After aliyah, the limits are the same as for any Israeli borrower. They're ceilings, not entitlements: the bank looks at your whole file and can approve less.

For a rough figure, try the mortgage calculator (in Hebrew).

Under Directive 329, counted income must be paid regularly, backed by suitable documents and proven by actual payments, such as deposits or transfers into your bank account. We found no separate rule in the directive for income in a foreign currency.

Disposable income is net income minus fixed expenses: repayments on loans with more than 18 months left, alimony, and rent if you won't live in the apartment you're buying (Annex A). Which exchange rate a bank uses, and how it treats income not yet moved to Israel, is bank policy the sources don't spell out. Ask each bank, in writing.

Currency risk. If you earn in dollars, euros or pounds and repay in shekels, the exchange rate decides what each payment really costs. According to Kol Zchut, a foreign-currency-linked track (צמוד מט"ח) is paid in shekels, linked to a currency's exchange rate and exposed to its changes, and may suit borrowers with income in a foreign currency. Switch to a shekel salary, and that risk flips. A worked currency example is in Mortgage in Israel for foreign residents.

Olim pay reduced purchase tax (מס רכישה) on one apartment bought between a year before aliyah and seven years after it. The rules changed for olim arriving on or after 15.08.2024. Source: Kol Zchut (updated 31.03.2026).

• Once only for an apartment. Compulsory military or national-civic service isn't counted in the seven years.
• Before aliyah: generally only if aliyah follows within a year. For an apartment under construction, up to three years, if the aliyah approval was issued within a year of the purchase.
• Couples: if one spouse is eligible, the benefit covers the whole purchase; non-spouse co-buyers get it only on the eligible buyer's share.
• Applying: at the regional Real Estate Taxation office (מיסוי מקרקעין), with the partial-exemption request form, a population registry extract showing your entry details and, for spouses, a marriage certificate.

For comparison, the regular sole-apartment brackets (until 15.01.2028) are 0% up to ₪1,978,745, 3.5% to ₪2,347,040, 5% to ₪6,055,070, 8% to ₪20,183,565 and 10% above. A buyer who isn't an individual Israeli resident pays 8% up to ₪6,055,070 and 10% above, from the first shekel (Kol Zchut, updated 15.10.2026). Which track applies is a question for your lawyer. Run the numbers in the purchase tax calculator (in Hebrew) or the Tax Authority's simulator.

Yes. Holders of a valid oleh certificate defined as "without an apartment" (חסרי דירה) may get government mortgage assistance for 15 years from aliyah. According to Kol Zchut (updated 02.03.2025):

• The amount is based on points (ניקוד), the collateral, and the Bank of Israel requirement of a down payment of at least 25% of the price.
• Olim can choose between the terms for olim and those for veteran families and individuals.
• The eligibility certificate (תעודת זכאות) is issued on behalf of the Ministry of Construction and Housing and the Ministry of Aliyah and Integration, through a mortgage bank, usually valid for a year. Documents: oleh certificate, ID cards, IDF service confirmation where relevant, and a marriage certificate for couples.

For eligible borrowers in general, Kol Zchut (updated 25.06.2025) describes the eligibility loan as CPI-linked, at 0.5 percentage points below the Bank of Israel's published housing rate and no more than 3%, for up to 30 years, taken within a year of the contract for a second-hand apartment (36 months for a new one from a developer) and before the full price is paid. It's usually one part of the mortgage. Official details: the Ministry's page for olim and its eligibility calculator (in Hebrew).

The Dira Behanacha program (דירה בהנחה, which includes Mechir Lamishtaken) needs an eligibility certificate, and Kol Zchut lists no special rules for olim. The general conditions cover couples, parents of a child under 21 and single people aged 35 or older who haven't owned an apartment, or more than a third of one, in the three years before the certificate (Kol Zchut, updated 09.09.2026). Registration companies issue it, for a fee. If you own, or recently owned, a home abroad, ask them how it's counted. More in Hebrew: mortgage for a discounted apartment and the discounted-apartment calculator.

Israel's credit score is calculated from credit data reported in Israel, so new olim usually start with little or nothing in the system. The Bank of Israel collects the data and credit bureaus calculate the score, based on how you repaid loans and met payments over the last three years; income and assets are ignored (credit data system website). The official sources don't say how someone with no history is scored, so ask the bank how it will assess you. Meanwhile:

• Open an Israeli bank account early and have your income paid into it.
• Pay every obligation on time; the system's website says even occasional late payments can lower the score.
• Use credit only when you need it, and keep away from your credit limits.
• Check your credit data report once you're in the system: one report per calendar year is free, through the system's personal area or at *6194.

More in Hebrew: credit score guide.

Each bank has its own list, so ask for it in writing. Typically:

• Passport, Israeli ID card (תעודת זהות) and oleh certificate (תעודת עולה).
• Pay slips (or tax returns if self-employed) and bank statements showing the income.
• The documented source of your down payment, and existing debts in Israel or abroad.
• Foreign documents may need translation and an apostille; see our guide for foreign residents.

• Signing before knowing the cap. Before aliyah it's usually 50%, not 75%. Get an approval in principle (אישור עקרוני) from more than one bank first.
• Missing the one-year window for the tax benefit when buying a completed apartment before aliyah.
• Assuming the benefit covers any apartment. For olim since 15.08.2024: a sole apartment, within the price cap, once.
• Paying the full price before arranging the eligibility loan.
• Counting income the bank won't count, because it isn't regular, documented or paid into your account.
• Ignoring currency risk on a loan that can run 30 years.
• Handling tax and residency alone. Get advice for your case from a lawyer, and an accountant where relevant.