Mortgages
Paying for your Bahrain property
Bahrain has over 400 banks and financial institutions, including insurance companies and Islamic banks. You should be able to find a bank that will give you a mortgage at a reasonable rate.
Many banks in Bahrain are international or have a significant presence in other Gulf states. Both international banks like HSBC and Standard Chartered and Bahrain banks such as Bahrain Islamic Bank and Arab Bank Bahrain will sell mortgages to foreigners.
You will need to provide a lot of paperwork in order to take out a mortgage. Some banks have more requirements, such as home insurance, but in general they ask for the following basic documents:
- passport or driver's license
- CPR card (Bahraini identification document)
- bank statements from previous three months
- proof of income
- sales/purchase agreement
Your mortgage amount and how long you have to pay it back depend on the bank. However, you can expect a maximum of 80% of your property purchase price, paid back over 25 years.
Islamic banks
Many of the banks in Bahrain are Islamic. Under Muslim law, it is forbidden to charge interest (riba). To circumvent interest on a mortgage but still see a profit, essentially the bank buys your property and then sells it back to you over time at a marked-up price.
Also in this section
- Introduction: The Bahrain property market
- The search: How to find a property in Bahrain
- Purchase process: How to buy property in Bahrain
- Mortgages: Paying for your Bahrain property
- Legal issues: Taxes and inheritance
- Additional costs: Utilities in Bahrain